Apple Pie and Enchiladas
by gaelicchick
Summary: Dark forces and flying drumsticks, talking birds, talking mirrors, bigotry, love, and a quest to save the last remnant of a vanishing people. Fifth year, Sirius and Remus cameos and a tiny hint of R/Hermione*FINAL CHAPTER*
1. Chapter One: There's Something in My Mas...

Chapter One: There's Something In My Mashed Potatoes!  
  
Ron was starving. He looked up anxiously up toward the staff table, where the Sorting Hat was placing the next batch of first year students. He sighed with relief as the last nervous, trembling little girl got up, and skipped off happily toward Ravenclaw. In fact, his mind was so engrossed in what his stomach was doing, that he didn't notice two people suddenly appear in the middle of the Slytherin table.  
  
Draco Malfoy noticed. He couldn't not notice, since one of the two, a smaller form completely covered in a royal blue cloak, was standing right in the middle of the platter of mashed potatoes in front of him.  
  
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and most of the other students, stood up on the benches to get a better look at what was going on across the room. The staff table was simply staring in shock, all except Dumbledore, who looked suspiciously like he was about to burst out laughing, and Snape, who gave bother newcomers a disapproving stare.  
  
As if frozen, neither form moved for a moment, and then, suddenly, the smaller form pulled back the hood of its cloak, and rose a few feet in the air as to be on the same eye level as the tall, shimmering form beside her.  
  
And it was a her. A rather short girl with dark brown hair was all Harry could make out from his vantage point, that, and a very angry expression on her face. But she said nothing. That was the most curious part. Her facial expressions would change from angry, to simply smoldering, to angry and back again, but for all Harry was straining his ears, he couldn't hear a single word.  
  
The shimmering form was harder to make out. While the shorter stranger was a very sold, concrete looking girl with mashed potatoes dripping off her shoes, the taller form was semi-transparent, and for all that he had managed to land in the middle of the gravy, there was no sign of food on his clothes.  
  
The hall remained in total silence for what seemed like ages while the newcomers stared at each other intently. Then Dumbledore discretely cleared his throat, and both heads snapped in his direction, as if they had been unaware of his presence before. The girl turned bright red as the taller form moved a shimmering hand to the small of her back and guided her straight down the Slytherin table, which they floated right off the end of, not setting foot on the ground until they reached the staff table, where the shimmer form came to a "landing" right in front of Dumbledore.  
  
"Sorry about the entrance Professor Dumbledore, we were caught up a bit and- "  
  
"What he means is he completely forgot about the time change," came a disgruntled female voice as the girl cut off her tall companion.  
  
As soon as the strangers opened their mouths, whispering erupted all over the Great Hall. There had been some strange spectacles at meals before, but a pair of Americans dropping right out of thin air ranked up there with the best of them.  
  
"What are Yanks doing here?" Ron whispered to Harry.  
  
"Shhhh, Dumbledore's talking," Hermione was intent on hearing everything. The boys re-focused their attention on the high table. Dumbledore was speaking.  
  
"Well, I must say Juaquin, I was hoping that at least you would have arrived in person. But, I should have known you'd be too busy to come away... You don't think it would have been better to send the girl by the Express?"  
  
"I was confidant it would be faster if-"  
  
"He wanted to show off, is what he means, Professor. He got all excited when he found out that he would be taking me instead of my mentor, Professor de La Vega."  
  
Dumbledore looked up sharply at the girl, as if he hadn't noticed her there before. "Indeed... well, would you be good enough to make the introductions, Juaquin?"  
  
The shimmering form seemed to hold his head a little higher. "Lucy, this is the Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore, and the Hogwarts faculty, your future teachers. Headmaster, Professors, this is Lucy."  
  
She was facing the staff table, but only Hagrid and Dumbledore caught the Look Lucy flashed when Juaquin introduced her in such an offhand, unimportant manner.  
  
In a voice that sounded as if it was meant for just the faculty, but which carried to the furthest corner of the room, Dumbledore added, "Miss Montero is a recent graduate of the Intermediate program at the Espiritu Institute in New Mexico, and will be joining the Hogwarts student body this year."  
  
At this all the student tables erupted in gossip, but no one had time to worry about stopping it, as soon as they saw the figures at the head table begin to talk, they fells silent, eager to hear more.  
  
"And now, headmaster, you must forgive me, I'm afraid I can't stay long in this form, I'm recovering from a nasty Enchantment Flu and staying in limbo this long takes a lot out of me." Even as he spoke, the shape of Juaquin began flickering more and more rapidly.  
  
The new girl, Lucy, gave a snort. "Typical, cause a mess and leave me to clean it up."  
  
Juaquin gave her a Look, before Dumbledore said, "Yes, yes, quite right, you may return to your body Juaquin, although I would like to speak to Professor de La Vege directly."  
  
Juaquin gave a curt nod. "He rather thought you would sir. I believe Lucy knows how to get in touch with him, if she feels up to it, of course."  
  
"I feel fine, why don't you go back and lie down, Juaquin, you look positively exhausted." Lucy gave Juaquin a contemptuous stare as what remained of his form dissipated in a little puff of blue sparks.  
  
"Professor McGonagall, if you would be kind enough to stop and bring that hat back here a moment, I believe we have one more student to place."  
  
A rather bemused McGonagall place the three-legged stool down where it was, and motioned for Lucy to come over."  
  
As Lucy began to float across the room again, McGonagall, quite firmly said, "On the ground, if you please." Lucy dropped the three inches immediately and walked, somewhat shakily, to the stool, sagging a bit as she sat down and the Sorting Hat was dropped on her head.  
  
The minute the old hat touched her brow, however, Lucy's glum face lit up. Her expressions kept changing from mere contentment, to deep concentration, to near-laughter. No one except McGonagall and Dumbledore seemed to know what was going on, and only McGonagall seemed determined to stop it.  
  
"IF YOU PLEASE!" The hat gave a guilty little start, and Lucy smothered her smile, looking discretely away from McGonagall as the hat boomed out, "Gryffindor!"  
  
With extreme reluctance, Lucy took off the hat and, somewhat unsteadily, leaning heavily on the ends of the four tables, followed McGonagall's pointed finger to the Gryffindor table at the end of the hall. The students were so confused as to what was going on, they didn't even think to cheer, and it was the first time a new Hogwarts student had not been met by the house-mates with applause.  
  
The table was full, and Lucy, somewhat unsure of what to do, wavered there, as Draco Malfoy's voice came sharply across the room.  
  
"Leave it to Gryffindor to attract the world-wide trash! Honestly, an Am-" Draco's rant was cut short as a particularly large drumstick bashed him in the side of the head, knocking him off balance and over the back of the bench. He got to his feet, sputtering, "Who threw that! Come on, who was it?" But none of the Slytherins could point a finger, it was as if the drumstick had flown completely on its own.  
  
None of the Gryffindors had been looking at Malfoy, so most of them caught the little wrinkle that had appeared on Lucy's forehead as she stared intently at the window behind them, the window that reflected Draco's position across the hall. And nobody missed the little smile of satisfaction on Lucy's face as Draco fell, his legs flying up over his head, off the bench.  
  
As the rest of the hall laughed, George and Fred both ushered Lucy over toward them, and the entire Gryffindor table looked intently at Malfoy, laughing and applauding. 


	2. Chapter Two: Those Barefoot, Gating Bar...

Chapter Two: Those Barefoot Gating Barbarians  
  
"I hate to begin your first day with an interrogation, Miss Montero, but there are a few things I would like explained." Dumbledore was standing behind a large desk in an empty classroom just down the hall from the Gryffindor common room. He was flanked by Professor McGonagall and Snape.  
  
Lucy nodded soberly. "I'm sorry Professor de La Vega couldn't bring me in person. He was quite adament that he just couldn't spare the time from his project, things have been in just as much chaos in North America as they have been here since last June. But if you would like me to summon him-"  
  
"You can perform the Summoning Charm?" McGonagall cut in, somewhat surprised.  
  
Lucy nodded, "Part of living in a country where magic is hidden so conspicuously is that communication and travel charms and spells are taught first, since classrooms are few and far between."  
  
Dumbledore nodded. "I don't think you need to summon him right now Lucy, a rather beastly time to wake him I dare say. I am interested in how you came to be er, floating in the Great Hall. People simply can not Apparate into Hogwarts."  
  
"We didn't," Lucy said. "I don't know much of the spell myself, but Professor de La Vega told Juaquin to "gate" us here. I don't know how he did it, only that the professor warned him to bundle me up, as I was going to lose a lot of heat. Juaquin, since he wasn't physically along for the ride, didn't need to worry. As I recall he did the whole thing sitting in front of a fire wrapped in a blanket."  
  
Dumbledore's spectacles almost flew off. "You GATED? That's absurd. No one gates anymore. The sheer energy drain-" He cut off, noticing for the first time the color that was draining out of Lucy's face, and remembering how she walked so unsteadily. "Professor McGonagall, please be good enough to deliver Lucy to the hospital wing for a large dose of energy supplements and careful observation." At Lucy's puzzled expression he explained, "Gating will drain a wizard long after they have arrived, it's a drawback to an otherwise perfectly good way for untrained wizards to cross large distances. It really is rather a miracle you are still standing Miss Montero, normally a wizards resources would be drained by now. Now off with you, I'll check in on you later."  
  
Lucy looked a bit relieved at not having to pretend she felt fine, but did manage to straighten up, putting up a good solid appearance. "You're sure you wouldn't like to speak with Professor de La Vega?"  
  
Dumbledore smiled, "I do, but no now. I do have one more question though. How did you turn up in the great hall? Because whether by gate or regular apparation, it is impossible to do so into Hogwarts."  
  
Lucy thought a minute. "Well, I thought you knew about that sir, that's what I was confused about. I think Juaquin blundered. We used a portkey, you see; we only gated because we missed our plane. We gated into the airport and then took a portkey that had been arranged for us at the baggage claim. We were supposed to end up in the main entryway, but someone must have moved the endpoint, because, as you saw, we landed above a table in the Great Hall."  
  
Dumbledore noted Lucy's casual use of "above," and made a mental note. "That was probably Peeves, he's one of our- oh never mind you'll meet him soon enough. Oh, and I'll be talking with you later, Lucy, about the best way to handle your unique abilities, but for now I think it best if you walk whenever possible."  
  
Lucy grinned as Professor McGonagall opened the door. "No problem Professor. But you have to admit, when classes are held above blistering hot sand, it is useful not to have to touch it. Especially since no one really wears shoes at Espiritu."  
  
"Hrmph," the sound came out of Snape and McGonagalls throats at the same time. Lucy's grin faded and she wearily followed McGonagall out of the room.  
  
  
After a large shot of energy suplemants from Madame Pomfry, Professor McGonagall gave Lucy a brisk summary of the rules of Hogwarts as she led the small girl along a maze of halls and passages, ending up in front of the portrait of an enormous fat woman.   
  
"Poppycock." Lucy stared as the professor addressed the portrait, but at the word the frame swung open, revealing a small hole, which McGonagall ushered Lucy through.  
  
She emerged in a room full of chairs, sofas, and students. The noisy rucas stopped immediately as Lucy appeared, with McGonagall rising behind her.  
  
"This, as you have heard, is Lucy Montero, the latest addition to Gryffindor House. Although this is her first year at Hogwarts, she has spent over seven years at the Espiritu Institute, located the in southwest of the United States, in New Mexico. She will be joining the Fifth Year students as a part of their class. I hope you will all make her feel welcome." Professor McGonagall seemed at a bit of a loss for words, and with a small pat on the shoulder for Lucy, she turned around and left the new girl to the stares of her housemates. Lucy felt exactly as one about to be fed to the lions.  
  
No one moved. Harry, Ron and Hermione stared from their post on the other side of the room. The new girl stared back, but she was at more of a disadvantage than the others, as she had no idea where to go. That was when a bold first year, who had also just been placed in the house,stepped forward and stammered.  
  
"Can you really fly? I mean without a broom and all?"  
  
Lucy looked confused, then the reality of what the boy was asking dawned on her, and she laughed. "You mean floating? Sure I can, where I come from, its one of the first things you learn, you kinda have to." She shrugged.  
  
The small boy looked hopeful. "Could I?"  
  
Lucy shrugged again. "Anyone can. But it takes a long time, even longer if you want to do it for more than a few seconds. And you have to have a really good teacher." She smiled at that, remembering something.  
  
"Why don't they teach it here?" At this Lucy crouched down, to be on the same level as her tiny interrogator.   
  
"What's your name?" she asked.   
  
"Phillip."  
  
"Well, Phillip, let me ask you this. If you had your rubber boots on, would you still step around water puddles?"  
  
Phillip thought for a moment, "No, I wouldn't need to."  
  
Lucy smiled. "Exactly, why go to all that trouble, when you are well off as it is? That's the same reason why a lot of schools don't all teach the same spells. See, my school is in New Mexico, and the ground there, out in the open, is really hot. Desert like, that's what the area is. Now, since it's so hot, we wear sandals around the building, because shoes are too hot, and the rubber will melt on the hot rock. So if we want to go outside, we need a way to keep our feet protected. And since we can't use a thick shoe, we just don't touch the ground at all. But I don't see any burning hot rock around here, do you Phillip?"  
  
The boy shook his head. Lucy continued. "So why should you waste a year learning to hover for hours or days on end, when you can walk? Do you understand?"  
  
Phillip grinned and nodded. Lucy straightened up. "Now, my friend, can you tell me where the girls sleep?"  
  
  



	3. Chapter Three: Faustas

Chapter Three: Faustas  
  
"So what's she like?" Ron pulled on Hermione's elbow almost immediately after she appeared in the common room to go down to breakfast. Hermione looked annoyed.  
  
"Ron, she's been here less than half a day. All I know so far is that she doesn't snore."  
  
Harry looked around as they emerged from the portrait hole and headed down to the Great Hall. "Where is she?"  
  
Hermione shrugged. "Last I saw of her she wasn't dressed yet and was talking to herself." The boys thought she was joking, but her face read that she was dead serious.  
  
As the meal began there was still no sign of the new student. Harry was straining his eyes down the end of the table to check if one of the heads bowed over their plate was hers, but he couldn't make it out.  
  
He needn't have tried so hard.  
  
In the next moment Lucy Montero entered the hall, and even without his glasses Harry could have picked her out.  
  
The robes she was wearing were obviously not of Hogwart stock. From his place across the hall, Harry could make out loose, linen drawstring pants and a collar-less shirt of the same material that hung halfway to her knees. The robes themselves were sleeveless, falling to her ankles, and were only prevented from flying back as she walked by a leather tie that connected one side to the other, at her waist. But the largest factor in Lucy's seperation from the rest of the students was that every spec of the attire was starkly, blazingly, white.  
  
Lucy fought the urge to duck and run, instead raising her chin, and walking resolutely to the Gryffindor table, taking a seat at the very end, and asking in a strong voice, "Please pass the orange juice."  
  
  
  
"But professor, this has been my school attire for over ten years, its not my fault that the robes don't bleach, magically or regularly, don't you think I tried?"  
  
Professor McGonagall was not pleased. She'd detained Lucy after breakfast in the hall as she was moving towards her first class. "Well, you'll just have to buy some standard robes in Diagon Ally when Hagrid takes you this weekend."  
  
Lucy's eyes grew aprehensive. "I don't think that's possible professor."  
  
McGonagall had been about to depart, but she turned back around. "What do you mean by that Miss Montero?"  
  
Lucy looked very uncomfortable. "Perhaps you should talk to Professor Dumbledore, but my financial situation doesn't quite account for a new wardrobe. To be perfectly honest I'll be lucky if I can get a good wand and the rest second hand."  
  
"You don't have wand?" McGonagall looked appalled.  
  
Lucy sighed, "Have you ever studied anything about Western Magic?"  
  
McGonagall looked insulted, and sniffed, "Why would I ever need to?"  
  
Lucy tried to control her anger. "Well, it has roots in theology that predates any magic being taught here. And it is based on a method of casting spells and accessing power directly through oneself, no small wooden intermediaries necessary. I've never used a wand."  
  
McGonagall was appalled. "Well…I… I shall speak to the headmaster directly about this. In the least I'm afraid you'll have to take some additional elementary casting courses to catch up. We'll talk about fitting them into your schedule later today. Now you'd better hurry if you're going to get to class on time."  
  
  
Truth be told, Harry was starting to feel sorry for Lucy. She had all the regular problems of a first year, finding her way around, learning which steps she needed to skip, run ins with Peeves, as well as the academic and magical challenges of a Fifth year, all on top of being the only currant American in the school. Not to mention trying to remember NOT to use most of the magic which had been so second nature to her back in her old school. In a particularly nasty episode this afternoon, Lucy, preoccupied with McGonagall's confrontation, had absentmindedly floated into potions class. Snape considered this "flagrant display" the "worst kind of cheek" and to remind Lucy that she was no longer in the "savage Western Hemisphere", he tied her into her chair for the duration of the lesson. Harry could see her nostrls flaring from across the room.  
  
Things were also getting rapidly out of hand because of Lucy's advanced telekinesis. After practicing and honing it for practically her entire life, it was next to impossible for Lucy to remember all the time that she could no longer "bring" objects to her. Consequentially, everytime an object fell, or crashed, Lucy was blamed, even if she had nothing to do with it.  
  
"Honestly, I don't understand why she's here," whispered Hermione as they returned to the Gryffindor Common room after potions, Lucy had been forced to stay after to clean up a spill of eel eyes Draco Malfoy insisted had been "all that barbarian Yank's fault."  
  
"No American's have visited Hogwarts in over 50 years, and NONE of them have enrolled. I've heard any Yanks that do study abroad generally go to the Acadamy in Seville, Spain, and a few to Beuxbatons. But most of them never come over here anyway, so why send one here now? And in the middle of it all too, you'd think a first former would be a better idea…"  
  
By now they'd reached the Fat Lady, and Hermione cut off her rambling as they entered the Common Room. They'd just settled themselves in when Lucy popped through the hole.  
  
Lucy cast her eyes around and the chattering groups of people, fighting not to let anyone see her lonlieness, but aching for just a word from her friends back home. There were no "classes" at Espiritu, they taught through the more anciant form of the mentor and the student; Profesor de La Vega had been Lucy's mentor for even longer than the normal student's, due to her peculiar station in life. But she had still had friends; there was one other student her age, her best friend Diego Alvarez. Diego's mentor was Profesor Giraldi, from Florence. Now, some magics, like floating, were taught in groups because often the students learned better by helping each other, and Profesor Giraldi, who was one of the youngest teaching at Espiritu, usually taught the floating sessions, out under the big New Mexico skyline, with nothing but desert and mesas for miles. A wave of homesickness washed over her, and she made quickly for the room she shared with Hermione and the rest of the fifth year girls.  
  
She sat crossed legged on her bed, a position used to begin most of the advanced spells taught at Espiritu, and took a small leather wallet out of her pocket. It was little more than a piece of stiff leather folded in half; opening it revealed two mirrors, the mirror on the left had its back to Lucy, its front flush against the leather, the mirror on the right faced her. Slowly she quieted her breathing, knowing it was the wrong hour back home to be talking to anyone, she merely called up a vision in the mirror. The refection of herself rippled, and clouded, then the clouds broke, and Lucy saw Espiritu rise up, looking like any ordinary adobe village among the mesas, but far more vast. Ritual fires blazed on the tops of most of the buildings, and by the light of the full moon she could see a small form sleeping on the roof of one of the buildings: Diego. Lucy smiled, it had been their favorite spot to sleep, curled up among many blankets to ward off the chill of the desert night, free to talk and giggle with the constant hushing of the amas, or housekeepers. She sat there, drinking in the sight, until a shriek from the common room broke her concentration and the image shattered.   
  
She hastily shoved the wallet back in her pocket and ran down the stairs to see what was the matter.  
  
Parvati and Lavender stood in the middle of the room, shrieking and pointing to something large battering at the window pane.  
  
"What is it! What does it want?"  
  
"You don't think its from You-Know-Who, do you?"  
  
At this Harry's head snapped up, but he, Ron, and Hermione were on the other side of the room and couldn't see whatever it was through all the commotion.  
  
Lucy, thoroughly confused and irritated at being pulled from her home by a bunch of silly girls, pushed through the crowd to get a look at the window. In the dim light of dusk, she could only make out a vague form, but it could quite obviously see her well.  
  
::Lucy! Querida, thank the Lady, hurry up and let me in, I'm exhausted,:: Lucy recognizedthe voice in her head immediately. She rushed to the window, and to everyone's protests, began fumbling to get it open.  
  
"What are you doing? Are you crazy? Don't you know anything, it'll kill us!"  
  
Lucy, her fingers still fumbling with the lock, snapped back at them, "He'll do nothing of the sort, but I'd stand back all the same." With that, she had the window open, and the huge form of a red shouldered hawk swept into the room, circling a moment, and causing Parvati and Lavender to scream some more, before Lucy threw her arm up in the air, slightly bent at the elbow, and the hawk swept down to land, his sharp talons closing carefully over the flesh of her forearm.  
  
When she looked in his eyes and realized who he was Lucy was happy beyond words, holding the massive bird to her chest and stroking his crest. "Faustas, Faustas thank the Gods, I was going crazy! What on earth took you so long I was"-, she stopped abruptly, noticing the staring eyes. She sighed, knowing this too would earn her a run in with McGonagall and a visit to Dumbledore. "Sorry," she mumbled, not quite sure whether she was angry or sad, and carried Faustas back up the stairs to her room.  
  
Hermione's eyes followed the retreating form. "I'm gonna go talk to her."  
  
"Why bother, she obviously wants to be alone," Ron was turning back to talk with Harry, most of the other students were returning to their interrupted activities.  
  
Hermione's head snapped back. "What makes you think that? Maybe she's alone most of the time because none of us will go near her. When that bird flew in it was like she had finally found a friend, and now she has to go hide with him because we constantly gwak at her like a circus performer. I know what its like to be mistreated because of who you are, and I'm not gonna do that to her."  
  
With that, she turned on her heel and followed Lucy up the stairs.  
  
  
"Lucy?" Hemione peeked around the door, "Lucy, are you all right?"  
  
Lucy was sitting crossed legged on her bed, and the huge bird was perched on the end rail, about on eye level with her. Lucy's eyes had a funny glaze, unfocused look, but they snapped back to normal at Hermione's entrance.  
  
"Yes, I'm fine, did you need something?" The answer was cold and mechanical, but after the isolation Lucy had been forced into, it was no surprise.  
  
"No, I came to apologize for well-"  
  
"You don't have to you know."  
  
"It wasn't fair."  
  
"Life, as I am rapidly learning, and being reminded," Lucy gave her bird a deliberate Look, "is not often fair."  
  
"Well, its just that everything about you is different, and most of us don't understand-"  
  
"Hermione, did it ever occur to any of you, besides Phillip, to ask? I know as little about Hogwarts as you know about New Mexico, but I'm trying damn hard, all I wanted was a break. At this point, I just want to go home."  
  
There was a stony silence, Hermione watching Lucy, who stared out the window. Hermione noted that the bird was watching Lucy acutely too. Hermione sat down on her own bed.  
  
"What's home like anyway."  
  
"Paradise," was Lucy's first response. "Nothing but desert and mesas on every horizon. Big blue skies, purple sunsets, cacti, and in the middle of all of it, Espiritu. Of course, that's just the ground view, it all looks much better through Faustas's eyes."  
  
Hermione grinned, "What exactly is he?"  
  
Lucy raised her eyebrows, "Come on and meet him, he won't bite you."  
  
Hermione sat down on Lucy's bed, and was shocked to see the large hawk tuck one foot behind him and lower his head, the perfect modal of a courtly bow. Hermione bobbed her head. "Ah, pleasure to meet you…"  
  
"Faustas," Lucy reminded.  
  
"Faustas." Hermione concluded with a smile. Lucy grinned, "Faustas, as you can tell, is a bit more than the average bird, aren't you Faust?"  
  
The small head bobbed curtly.  
  
"Does he understand what you say?"  
  
Lucy nodded, "More than that, have you heard of telepathy?"  
  
Hermione nodded "I read about it somewhere, its like reading thoughts right?"  
  
Lucy shrugged, "It's a bit more complicated than that, but baiscaly you have the right idea. Faustas and I can speak without actually opening our mouths. We talk in each other's heads. Of course, a lot of times I just speak normally to him, but then it looks like I'm talking to myself."  
  
That's when it dawned on Hermione, "So that's who you were talking to that morning? I thought you were talking to yourself!"  
  
Lucy looked confused, "Oh, that, no I wasn't talking to Faustas, I didn't know where he was at that point. I was talking to Diego, my friend back home. If he concentrates hard enough, and is in a deep trance, he can speak through this," she held up the wallet with the mirrors in it. "He didn't have the energy to project an image, so I just left that open and talked with him while I got ready. I didn't realized you were still there, or I would have explained. They probably think I'm crazy."  
  
Hermione heard the unspoken hurt behind the words. "I'm sorry things haven't been easy around here for you. It's just that you're so…"  
  
"Different," Lucy finished, "I know. It's ironic isn't it? Most magically gifted people from normal families feel less different once they start in a school like Hogwarts, and for me-"  
  
She didn't get to finish her sentence, at that moment Professor McGonagall burst into the room.  
  
"Montero? What's this I hear about you bringing a- WHAT IS THAT?" The professor was staring in horror at Faustas, who had gone on the defensive and spread his four foot wingspan out to its widest.  
  
Lucy, down as she was, just sighed and put a hand in his back. "You ought to ask 'who' is he? His name is Faustas and I'm guessing Professor de La Vega didn't explain much about him, did he? Well see-"  
  
Professor McGonagall cut her off. "I don't want to hear it. I'm sorry Lucy, but follow me to my office, we'll have to have another talk with the headmaster about this."  
Lucy sighed wearily, but reacher down and pulled a leather jerkin and gauntlet from the trunk at the foot of her bed. She pulled the jerkin onto her shoulder and the gauntlet onto her right forearm. Faustas then clambered onto her shoulder, his long talons piercing into the leather rather than Lucy's skin, and she followed McGonagall out the door, passed the still gwaking Griffyndors, and through the hole to the hall.  
  
  



	4. Chapter Four: Wild Vultures and Wild Wan...

Chapter Four: Wild Vultures and Wild Wands  
  
"I'm just saying he could be a danger to the students."  
  
"Faustas? Dangerous? Only if someone was trying to hurt me. Please Professor Dumbledore, he's a lot better behaved than most of those Slytherin people! You can't treat Faustas like just another bird, ask professor de La Vega-"  
  
"I've tried to reach the Professor several times Lucy. I sent an owl finally yesterday, but this trans-atlantic post is always so touchy, I can't be sure when we will receive a reply."  
  
"But that doesn't mean you should send him away! Professor, I know this may sound strange, but it was a tremendous honor to have Faustas come with me. I thought they would just send one of the institute falcons, but Faustas is a tierra guardian, they only ever leave the land they protect on very special circumstances. This hasn't happened in over six generations, and I think only because I've been there for so long and Faustas and I-"  
  
"Professor you don't really intend to let that stay?"  
  
"But you let owls stay!"  
  
Professor McGonagall gave Lucy a sharp look. "Owls are civilized mail carriers AND pre-authorized pets for Hogwarts students. A huge wild vulture-"  
  
Fuastas snapped at McGonagall. "See! I told you he was dangerous."  
  
Lucy looked at Faustas, and back to McGonagall, and said in a hushed voice, "He only did that professor, because you insulted him in the worst way possible. Faustas takes the form of a red shouldered hawk. Only the eternally condemned come back as vultures."  
  
McGonagall gave a "Hrmph," and muttered under her breath about , "ruddy westerners with their finicky spirirts and hocus pocus."  
  
"That's enough," Dumbledore sounded as tired as he felt. He had had no idea how difficult the transition from Espiritu to Hogwarts was for Lucy, but he had previous expereince with creatures like Faustas, and he had no intention of asking what, in the most simple sense, was a lower level god, to pack his bags and go home. "Lucy, where would Faustas be most comfortable, inside or out?"  
  
Lucy, who had been expecting another battle, was shocked. "I-I- I'm not exactly sure, sir. He needs the open sky of course, but I'm afraid he's not quite prepared for the weather."  
  
::Kindly don't patronize me, infante. I'll do quite well on my own, just make them promise not to shoot me if I do choose to come inside, si?::  
  
Lucy supressed a giggle as Faustas spoke inside her head, and smiled. "Well, he seems to perfer outdoors at the moment, sir, although he would like to be sure that he won't be," she stole a glance at McGonagall, "harassed, should he need to come indoors."  
  
"Does he need to eat?"  
  
Lucy frowned, "They never say, sir. He has favorite foods, of course, but whether he asks me for them because he likes the taste or he actually needs the nourishment he won't say. There's an awful lot we don't know about tierra guardians, sir, and they like to keep it that way."  
  
"I see," Dumbledore swore that the huge bird was grinning at his ward, "does he need any special arrangements inside?"  
  
He watched Lucy's forehead wrinkle a bit in the middle, the pose she often took when "mind-speaking" with Faustas, then her eyes refocused and she shrugged. "He won't say where he's going to live outside, but it won't be the owlry, he finds it somewhat," she searched for a less insulting pharse than 'glorified outhouse', "distastefull. But inside, all he needs is a decent perch in the Gryffindor common room and one on my room, he doesn't want to damaged the furniture."  
  
"How considerate of you Faustas, I'm sure Hagrid will find you something in the morning."  
  
Faustas bobbed his head.  
  
Lucy grinned and scratched under his chin.  
  
Professor McGonagall crossed her arms and stared at the large bird dissapprovingly.  
  
  
The rest of the week passed relatively normally at Hogwarts. Faustas's frequent presence in the fifth year girls bedroom finally forced Parvati, Lavender, and the rest of the girls to start talking to the new arrival, and their gwaking at Lucy rapidly diminshed. By the weekened she was more or less normal as far as they were concerned.  
  
But the weekend brought its own problems. Once it was out that there was an expedition leaving for Diagon Ally, every student wanted to go to, for some vital piece of school equipment they couldn't live without. McGonagall settled the matter, allowing fifth year Griyffindors to tag along, for the purpose of "getting better acquainted." As much as McGonagall detested Faustas, Dumbledore had filled her on on what he knew of Lucy's difficulties, and she agreed that a little bonding time with her classmates would do her good.  
  
Lucy wasn't so sure.   
  
"You'll be fine! There's nothing to worry about, honest! Once we get there, everyone will scatter to shop anyway, it'll just be you, Hagrid, and Faustas." Hermione had taken to including Faustas at all times. The large bird became more personable every day, and although Hermione might never develop the ability to "listen" to him, the two understood each other remarkably well.  
  
"Easy for you to say! You know these people, I don't! The girls are ok, but the boys treat me like some sort of walking sideshow. They're as bad as that Malfoy character.!"  
  
Hermione laughed, and pulled Lucy down the hall. They were travelling by some special sort of "one way" flu powder, out of Dumbledore's office, there was no time for the express. The return trip should dump them off somwhere in Hogsmeade. Lucy didn't much care, anything was better than Juaquin's botched gating job.  
  
"Don't ever let Harry or Ron catch you comparing them to Malfoy and his like. The rivalry has gotten downright dangerous ever since-" Hermione's voice broke a little, she didn't need to finish, Lucy could easily "lift" the high emotions out of her head.  
'Since that boy," Lucy didn't use Cedric's name to mak it easier for Hermione, who nodded. Lucy nodded back, and they didn't speak the rest of the way into the office.  
  
  
The man in the wand shop made Lucy nervous, very nervous. Then again, there was nothing about Diagon Ally that particularly appealed to her. It was crowded and smelly and dark and dank, and she would have sold her soul just for one glimpse at the desert sunsent.  
  
As it was Hagrid, along with everyone else who had heard, was suffieciently disgusted at her lack of wand that he dragged her off to get one first thing. So at the moment, she found herself waving idiotically every piece of wood the tottering old man thrust at her. She just didn't understand why she needed one, because that's all that they were to her, dead trees. She'd worked through several cases when the man suddenly stopped.  
  
"Where did you say you were from again?"  
  
"N-New Mexico," Lucy stammered, surprised at the question.  
  
The little man dissapeered into the back, then returned, carrying a tightly rolled piece of fabric, tied with a leather thong. He untied it, letting the fabirc roll open, revealing a dark wand.  
  
But Lucy wasn't looking at the wand, she was looking at the fabric. "Where did you get this?"  
  
The little man smiled. "I didn't, my grandfather was a boy when a man came into the shop. Now, as a rule we don't take other craftsman's work to sell, not if we don't know them, too risky. But there was something about this man, a foriegner, that my great-grandfather trusted. The stranger would only sell us this one, however. And said that when the time was right, the student would appear. That wand has sat in the back ever since."  
  
Lucy ran her hands over the fabric. "There is a much larger tapestry of this design hanging on the wall outside my room at home. It was woven by one of the most famous Espiritu graduates. It's priceless."  
  
She was still staring at it when the old man gently placed the wand in her hand. As she slowly rotated her arm bright red fiery light exploded in an arc from the tip.  
  
" 9 ½ inches, sequoia and bald eagle feather, two rare elements that only exist on the other side of the world. I should have known it wouldn't want anyone from around here. It's yours."  
  
Lucy looked down at the wand. The man was right, there was something about it that didn't quite fit with the other wands in the store. "Made for a barbarian, huh?" She grinned.  
  
The man smiled and shook his head "I think it just needed someone who would understand it. Let's wrap it up for you now, shall we?"  
  
Lucy nodded and followed the man to the counter, where the wand was re-wrapped in the colorful cloth, and Lucy paid him out of the money she had been sent with. The man winked at her on her way out, and it gave her an extra bit of courage.  
  
"How much money do ye got there?" asked Hagrid as they made their way back onto the street. Lucy could see the other Gryffindor's in dense little packs, coming out of stores or buying something to eat. At this point she was glad she was alone.   
  
"Not much, we'll have to go talk to the people at Gringotts," she sighed, "and see how much money Espitiru was  
Espiritu was able to put in the trust for me."  
  
That wasn't much. Lucy wasn't surprised, it was evena little more than she expected. She knew she was at Hogwarts on scholarship. And the scholarship didn't provide for much else besides the basics. The wand had been the only thing Profesor de La Vega had insisted she buy top of the line, everything else they didn't send with her would have to be got at second hand.  
  
When Lucy pointed them towards "Astrid's Previously-Owned-But-Virutally-Undamaged Wares For Wizards", Hagrid gave her a surprised look, then as if he seemed to understand, smiled at her, and didn't say a word. And fortunately, Lucy was used to haggling at the markets in the villages around Espiritu, and with the various tribe members who stopped by the Institute. With her quick tongue and Hagrid's imposing presence, she was able to purchase all her books and materials (most, with the exception of the only potions book available, in rather good condition) for far less than "Astrid" would have charged her for.  
  
She did pause a moment to ponder buying herself a set of the usual Hogwarts black robes, but the ones available at Astrid's were horrendous, and since fitting in wasn't exactly a necessity, she decided against it. She'd already written back home, and if Diego's mother, whom everyone called Mama Rosa, heard anything about it, Lucy was sure she'd have a set of black "Espiritu style" robes by Navidad.  
  
They were headed back the way they had come, to deposit the rest of Lucy's money (minus the personal stipend she was taking with her to Hogwarts) back into the trust at Gringotts, when Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati ran up to them.  
  
"Are you done yet? I'm starving, and Lavender's been whining for over an hour-"  
  
"I have not!"  
  
"-So we're going to grab lunch, come on!"  
  
Lucy could barely make sense of the whole thing, but Hagrid laughed, took the bag of money to be returned, and gently shoved Lucy toward Hermione, who whisked her away into the crowd, followed by Lavander and Parvati.  
  
"Where are the guys?" She asked when the world stopped spinning and the others led her to a small table just outside "Miracle Morry's Café".  
  
"Still looking at exploding something-or-others," sighed Hermione. "They said they'd meet us here when they were done, which may be never, so WE are DEFINITELY not waiting to order."  
  
Lucy grinned, and fashined a stand for Faustas out of a wooden chair with all girls' shoping bags piled on it to compensate for the hawk's weight, so he wouldn't tip it. Faustas stepped gently from Lucy's shoulder to the improvosed perch, and, apprantly pleased, set about grooming himself.  
  
They had just started their meal (Lucy, used to Mama Rosa's cooking and not sure what to order, had played it safe with a sandwhich), when Harry, Ron, and Shamus elbowed their way to the table, dragging in extra chairs to sit on.  
  
"Find what you were looking for?" Hermione looked at the boys with a raised eyebrow.  
  
Ron grinned, in bliss, "All that we wanted and more, I think we even found some new stuff that not even Fred and George have!"  
  
Laveder rolled her eyes at the other girls, "Wonderful, just what we need."  
  
Lucy gave her a sympathetic grin, scratched Faustas under his chin, and sat back to listen to the boys' description of their new toys.  
  
  



	5. Chapter Five: Something's Wrong

Chapter Five: Something's Wrong  
  
"So you've never used one of these things, ever?" Ron looked at Lucy warily as she stared, baffled, at her new wand. In order to prevent Lucy from having to jam in Remedial Wand Usage Classes for the Hopelessly Inept, Hermione had agreed to show her the ropes, convinced she would get the hand of it in no time; and she'd recruited Harry and Ron to help.  
  
"Like I said, we never used them. All casting was done with your hands, obviously if you'd earned The Ring, that augemented your power, but besides that you tried to rid your hands of any objects that might interfere with the spell. Unless of course you had a spirit rope or shamanic beads, but that was one of the reasons pocket watches were so popular."   
  
"What's The Ring?" Harry asked.  
  
Lucy shrugged, "It's pretty much a mystery unles you earn it. The "headmaster" of sorts at Espiritu has always been a great shaman among his own people first, and so that's how he earns his ring. For those of us "outsiders," people who weren't born a part of the Iroquois, or Soux, or Cherokee nations for example, the Ring is earned after years of study. You're constantly tested, although you never know that you are, and when your mentor feels you are ready, you're given your own Ring. It acts as a focus, some of the more complecated spells can't be cast without it."  
  
Hemoine, Ron, and Haryy just nodded and shook their heads. It certainly sounded barbaic.  
  
"Well, I guess we start at the beginning," said Hermione. "Lumos," she muttered, and light appeared at the tip of her wand.  
  
Lucy shook her head, "You use magic for that?"  
  
"How else to you propse we see in the dark?" Ron glared at her.  
  
Lucy shrugged, "Eat a lot of vitamin A?"  
  
They both looked at each other and shook their heads, Hermione stamped her foot impatiently, "Lucy! Pay attention."  
  
  
Lucy paced her room, impatient. The Professor should have called by now.  
  
Parvati stuck her head in, "Lucy? Are you coming? We want a good seat."  
  
Luct looked torn for a moment, then turned to Faustas. "Stay and wait in case he calls, come get me if he does." She unlatched the window, enabling Faustas to push it open if he needed to fly out, but not letting the rain in. Then she grabbed her cloak and followed Parvati down the stairs and out through the hole.  
  
"They actually play in the rain?"  
  
Parvati shook her head. "I keep forgetting your a desert dweller. This is just a little shower, no reason to cancel."  
  
Lucy was glad. She had finally found a part of Hogwarts life with which she as perfectly happy: Quidditch. The players zooming around on their brooms in the sky reminded her of the guardians sweeping over Espiritu, and the game was fascinating. Hermione was thoroughly amused to see Lucy as fanatical over violations (she'd learned the rules by heart in a few weeks) as Ron and the rest of them. That development had done wonders for relations between Lucy and the rest of boys. You couldn't think someone was a freak while they were analyzing plays with you.  
  
But Lucy was worried over the silence from home. She normally got a message from her mentor Profesor de La Vega every three weeks. It was the first week of November and she hadn't had a word since the end of September. She gotten worried when no one had spoken to her or sent her a letter for Dia de Los Muertos, and now every day that passed she grew more worried. It was part of the reason Hermione had sent Parvati back to make sure Lucy didn't spend the whole day sulking. It was hard to be worried when Quidditch was being played.  
  
  
They were going to win! Gryffindor was already ahead of Ravenclaw, but Lucy could see Harry veer around and start to dive, he was after the Snitch! This was always Lucy's favorite part, he was almost there…  
  
PAIN! Blinding pain lanced through her head. She felt for a lump, but she hadn't been hit by anything. She shook her head clear, mystified then PAIN! Again, she doubled over and sat down, too dizzy to stand. Whatever it was, it was coming from inside her head. Quickly, before another one hit, she called the only person she thought could explain it.  
  
::Faustas? Faustas what's happening?::  
  
::Coming:: Was all the reply she got. In a moment of clarity she realized Gryffindor must have won, as the students were all storming the field. She clutched the seat as another blast of pain hit her, and began to stumble down the stands and back towards the school. She'd congratulate Harry later.  
  
Out of nowhere, A blur descended from the sky. Faustas hoverd above her, shadowing her shaky progress over the ground. From the detatched look in his eyes she could tell something was worying him, and it wasn't her. Home, she thought, something's wrong at home. And despite the blinding pain in her head, she began to run, and didn't stop until she reached her room.  
  
She tore through her trunk, pulling out the wallet with the Seeing Mirror and called up and image of Espiritu. Something was very wrong. The sky was black, but at this hour it should be early afternoon there. And fire, fire raining out of the sky. Occasionally a green arc of light assaulted the defenses around the complex, and it was then that another shot of pain lanced through Lucy's head. But now that she knew where it came from , she could shield herself, somewhat, and the pains subsided to dull, throbbing aches.  
  
Her eyes saw it, but her mind refused to believe it. Espiritu, under attack? Never! No one had dared trespass there in years, it was too well protected. Even now, Lucy could see the vague, glowing shadows that were the guardians in there most essential forms, swarming above the school, occasionally diving to attack. But something was wrong, whatever was attacking her home was slowly wearing away the defense. Plus, she could see the entire population assembled on the roofs of the various adobe buildings, and some of them were deuling with strange black clad figures. How did they get in? Lucy's mind was filled with questions, but beyond them was an all empowering need, she had to get back!  
  
::Faustas! Faustas you have to get me back there, now!::  
  
Faustas, perched on her bed, shook his head. ::Out of the question Querida, the Professor said only in an   
  
emergency::  
  
::What do you call this!::  
  
::An emergency for you, he meant, not for them. Do you think he wants to bring you back into all of that danger? No, you stay here. I, on the other hand, can help, but I have to trance down, so please to be silent.::  
  
And with that, Lucy felt his mind clamp shut against her. She glared at him, but in the back of her mind there was a glimmer of hope. If the Profesor had authorized Faustas to bring her home in an emergency, then he must have sent something with to bring her home. A portkey, perhaps, that could be activated whenever needed. Whatever it was, she was certain Faustas had hid it. All she had to do was look in his nest.  
  
That was going to be a problem, Faustas roosted high up, that was for certain. And since he didn't like that forest at all, it meant he was roosting on the top of Hogwarts, how was she going to get to it?  
  
At that same moment Harmione, Lavender, and Parvati burst through the door, chattering loudly and shaking out their wet cloaks. They looked up at the pale and haggard looking Lucy.  
  
"Lucy, what's wrong?" Hermione stepped forward.  
  
Lucy's forehead wrinkled as she thought, "Hermione, where can I get some rope?"  
  
  
  
  



	6. Chapter Six: Waking the Dead

Chapter Six: Waking the Dead  
  
"I really don't think this is such a good idea."  
  
"She's gonna fall!"  
  
"I can't even see her anymore, Hermione is she almost there?"  
  
Hermione rubbed the rain out of her eyes with one hand, the other hand anchoring the line they had run up and around the tip of Gryffindor Tower, where Faustas' nest was. At the moment she culd barely make out the little spec that was Lucy, scurrying up the side of the tower like a monkey. Hermione wished Harry had come back sooner, he could have reached the top easiliy on the Firebolt, but Lucy had been insistant that time was important, and she would not be gainsaid.   
  
For what seemed like hours the girls craned their necks up into the dark, and finally they heard Lucy's triumphant shout. "I've got it!" And all too soon she was back on the roof, collecting the rope, and leading the girls back to their room.   
  
"So what is it?" Lavender shook water out of her ear and began taking off her wet things.  
  
Lucy had sat down on her bed, not caring about the puddle that was forming at her feet, carefully prodding Faustas to make sure his mind was really gone. The small leather bag she had carried down the tower in her teeth lay beside her on the bed. She picked it up now, careful not to touch it, sliding the contente out on the bed: an ovular pendant of some black stone, on a silver chain.   
  
The girls leaned in closer.  
  
Maggie studied it, then picked it up. "It's an amulet. The masters wear them at Espiritu, they all wear some form of onyx, its a good focus stone." She stared at the stone for a moment, "I wonder if this one was supposed to be mine, when I earned it…" She shook her head to clear it of the thought, and reached for the wallet with the mirror. The picture had not changed much, and Lucy hoped she got there in time to help.   
  
Hermione looked concerend, "Lucy, where's the other end of the portkey?"  
  
Lucy unfocused her eyes for a moment, "It's movable, I just have to find where he left it….there, there it is, and now I just move it to where I want to end up, so ….there he is, I'll set it for Diego." Then Lucy;s eyes focused again and she was turning the amulet over, searching for something, "Where it is it? Where is it, come on just show me…"  
  
"Show you what?"  
  
"The catch, the catch that turns it on, so I can go….there!" With a click the black onyx began to glow, and Lucy fastened the chain around her neck. She noticed the girls looking at the mirror, "I'm gonna have to close that you know"  
  
Hermione put her hands on her hips, "And just how will we know where you are?"  
  
Lucy shrugged, "You won't."  
  
Hermione wasn't going to be put off so easily. "I'll scream for Professor McGonagall immediately if you don't leave it open."  
  
Lucy's eyes flashed in anger, but she shook the though aside, she didn't have time for this.  
  
"Fine, fine, I'll leave it open, but you have to promise to cover for me if anybody comes looking, and keep it out of sight."  
  
The girls nodded. Lucy took one last look at the mirror, then grasped the glowing pendant, and vanished.  
  
  
"Profesor de La Vega will hang you for this you know!" Diego had to shout to be heard over the chos around them. No one had even noticed Lucy's appearing out of thin air, and she liked it that way. Diego hadn't seemd so surprised. "When I saw Fuastas I knew you'd be trying to find a way to get here, do you have a plan?"  
  
Lucy nodded. "Has anyone tried to wake the Sacrementals?"  
  
Diego looked taken aback. "The Sacrementals? I thought you had a plan! That's just an old superstition and you know it! No one has even seen a Sacremental in almost 200 years!"  
  
"We haven't been under attack like this in the past 200 years, have we!"  
  
Diego thought a moment, and another crash shook the ground, causing both to topple over. "Good point! But who is going to do it?"  
  
Luct grinned, "We are."  
  
  
"If you fall off that thing I'm not gonna be able to catch you."  
  
"Thank you for reminding me Diego."  
  
"No problem, do you have any idea how to do this?"  
  
"Sierra said that the whole point was that you didn't have to know how. Any projection of danger to Espiritu that is strong enough should work."  
  
At that point another green bolt flashed, and both students braced for the earthquake like sensations that followed. Lucy, high in the bell tower of the old mission, hooked her arm around the beam and held on for dear life.  
  
"You'd better start now if you want anything left standing!" Lucy threw a panic look out the windows on each of the four walls of the tower, Diego was exaggerating, nothing catastrphic had happened, yet.  
  
"You just be there to close this thing when its all over! I doubt I'll be up to it!"  
  
"You were the who insisted on going up there!"  
  
"Just shut up and let me work!"  
  
Lucy stood up on the beam, reaching up to grab the beam just above her head that ran to the other wall, four feet away, the beam on which the bell hung. The Espiritu Bell had no clapper, and legend said it never did. The legend said when settlers first built this church to another god, the gods of the earth were angered, and the next day when the people went to call mass for the first time, there was no clapper in the bell. But one night, as the town slept, bandits approached, intent on stealing the gold the settlers had brought to their new, unprotected home, and killing them all in their beds. And they would have, if the clanging of the church bell hadn't wakened them before the bandits harm anyone. Sierra said this meant the gods had reconciled themselves to the strangers, that they were good people, and they would protect them. But the more people came, the more trouble there was. So the gods left the care of the earthbound to their anciant avatars, the Guardians, and the bell rang no more.   
  
Untill today, thought Lucy. If ever they needed the Four, it was now. So carefully, hand over hand, she moved toward the bell, untill she was hanging right next to it. And she began to kick. Some physical force was required and with her arms keeping her from dropping the length of the tower, kicking was her only resource. So she kicked untill the bell was swinging, then focused every bit of energy and magical skill her mentor had ever tried to teach her on sending a message of emergency for Espiritu.   
  
::Please, oh please, if one thing had to go right in my entire life, let this work.::  
  
Then the world went black.  
  
  
Hermione was transfixed. The Mirror was showing them exactly what was happening at Espiritu. Another green bolt flashed, but it crashed against a red one and a shower of pruple lit up the sky. It had been at a deadlock ever since Lucy left, and Hermione wished she could do something.   
  
"Maybe we ought to tell-"  
  
"Look!", shrieked Parvati. Something exploded from the tower at the far end of the complex. Hermione wished she could hear what was going on, but whatever was happening was huge. Four huge, blinding;y white, vaporous, shapes, had emerged and flashed back in forth across the view. She thought she could see them strike something, and then an explosion of green, one seemed to be physicalyl lifting whatever was blackening the sky, and the other was, was coming straight toward her and- the image suddenly vanished. Hermione held the Mirror in her hand but that's all it was, a mirror. Her own face stared back at her, a flabbergasted expression on her face.  
  
  
It was late, several hours after the mirror had stopped working, and the girls were all in bed. Hermione was roused by a dull thump, and Faustas's cry, and a great ruffling of feathers. Parvati stood up and rubbed her eyes, Lavender took care of the lights.  
  
And promptly began to scream.   
  
Sitting on the end of Lucy's bed was a boy. A tall boy with dark hair and muddy clothes who positively reeked of sulfur and smoke and was holding Lucy in his arms and staring at Lavender, who continued to scream.  
  
Until Lucy picked her head up and drowsily groaned, "Shut up for pity's sake Lavender or I'll kill you myself."  
  
The boy looked down at Lucy and frowned. "That's enough from you, you're supposed to be sleeping."  
  
With that he placed an index finger on each of her temples and Lucy's head dropped back in sleep before she could protest. Diego sighed turned towards Hermione, and asked to be led to Dumbledore.  
  
  
Dumbledore was already awake when they reached his room, he met them at the door. "Profesor de La Vega woke me up some time ago, he was wondering what kept you." He nodded to the dark haired boy who carried Lucy, "Pleasure to meet you Deigo."  
  
Deigo nodded, a bit dumbfounded. "I'd shake your hand sir, but mine are full at the moment."  
  
Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, with a much more important task, as I am told. Has she woken up yet?"  
  
"Just once sir, a put her back to sleep, my mother-"  
  
"Was absolutely correct in doing so. However, what your teacher has to say, he wants to say to both of you, so why don't you let Hermione show you where the hospital wing is, and Madam Pomfrey can taka a look at Lucy."  
  
Diego nodded, "Can I stay until she wakes up? She'll roast me if I leave her here."  
  
Dumbledore noted the boy's tone when he said, 'leave her here,' but didn't let his reaction show, he merely nodded. "The profesor said you'd want to stay a bit, and since things are a bit chaotic over there at the moment, I don't think he'll mind postponing the interview until Lucy is feeling more like herself."  
  
Diego nodded, and followed Hermione and the other girls back out the door.  
  
When they had gone, Dumbledore turned over the picture next to the door, revealing a Mirror, like Lucy's, on the other side. "Well Antolin? Are you sure you want her to stay here? I mean after tonight she's-"  
  
"Going to be more determined than ever to get back, I know," came a heavily accented voice from the mirror, which had no image, just a shimmering black. "But she must stay where she is, until we know more. Espiritu has never been under this kind of attack, never one that reuired the use of the Four-"  
  
"Who are they? You never explained that."  
  
"The anciant ones, if you were religious, like the Hopi of this reservation, you might think they were the origional Four gods, of the North, South, East and West. Gods of earth, water, fire, and wind. Whatever thay are, they are powerful and destructive, and no one has been able to wake them in years. The fact that Lucy could…"  
  
"It means something?"  
  
"Not just anyone can, and I don't know what it means that she could, but it can not be good. I want her away from here. No matter what she says, she stays with you, Albus, until this is understood."  
  
"And the boy?"  
  
"Diego? No, Diego has family here, his mother and his aunt and grown cousins. Its rare in the west for magic to run so strong in a family, but its good for the boy. Besides, he still has yet to catch up to Lucy in skill, although Giraldi is doing surprisingly well for his first student. Lucy's been with us since she was three, so naturally she was ahead of Diego, who was six when he started. I don't have any fears for Diego, but it is imperative that Lucy remain at Hogwarts." At this there came a muffled voice from the mirror, one that wasn't the professor's, amd then, "Juaquin can't you manage without me for….si….si…basta. basta! Madre de Dios the boy is incompetant. I have to go Albus, but I will talk later with the children, and after I do, please make sure Diego returns quickly."  
  
Dumbledore nodded, and the black mirror faded to his own reflection.  
  
  



	7. Chapter Seven: The Good, the Bad, and th...

The Good, the Bad, and the Scaly  
  
Hermione didn't hang around after breakfast the next morning. Harry and Ron couldn't figure out her strange behavior, and followed when she hurried out of the Great Hall. No one seemed to notice that Lucy wasn't there.  
  
Surprisingly, they followed Hermione to the hospital wing, where she was knocking softly on the door. She turned at the sound of their footsteps. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"We might ask you the same thing," Ron replied, "We've got Snape's class in fifteen minutes.'  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes, "I just want to see if she's awake."  
  
"See if who-"  
  
Harry was shushed by Madam Pomfrey as she opened the door. She smiled at Hermione and gave both boys a look that said they'd be sorry of they so much as breathed to loud.  
  
Lucy lay in a bed next to the window, in easy view of Faustas, who was circling the sky outside. Sitting cross-legged on the next bed, watching her sleep, was a boy Harry had never seen before. But he seemed to know Hermione, and he looked up and smiled when she walked in.   
  
"Did she wake up yet?" The boy shook his head.  
  
"Not yet, but el Profesor said she probably wouldn't for a couple of hours." He spotted the boys and held out his hand, "I'm Diego by the way, and don't let the nice nurse scare you into silence, you could drop a bomb in here and you wouldn't wake Lucy, not in the state she's in."  
  
"I'm Harry."  
  
"Ron," both boys introduced themselves and shook hands with the dark boy. Hermione looked impatient.  
  
"You promised you'd explain what happened, Diego, Dumbledore tried to but-"  
  
"He probably has less of an idea of what happened than you do. If I know the professor he completely forgot he was talking to an English wizard. He is a great teacher, and a great mentor to Lucy, but a great diplomat he is not, it's one of the reasons he seldom leaves the school," Diego chuckled, then calmed.   
  
"Basically, when Lucy woke the Four, she used a great deal of energy, magical energy. Physically, that bell hasn't moved in years, and its heavier than Lucy thought it would be, she had to kick it an awful lot to get it going. Once she made the contact, the bell used her magical energy to keep going, and she was also using that energy to build up a cry loud enough to summon the gods. But then she realized that if she broke the connection, the portal would close and the gods would disappear. So until everything was taken care of and the enemies vanquished, Lucy had to keep that portal open. That's probably the reason no one has tried it before, they realized the power drain could kill a person."  
  
"But it didn't kill Lucy."  
  
Diego shook his head, "She had me to close the portal. I was able to collect as much energy as I could that was given off as the gods returned through the portal to their world, the gods give back all the energy they use, its just that its hard to catch, mostly it returns to the land. I caught a lot, but whatever energy wasn't recaptured and fed back to Lucy, she has to rebuild herself. That's why I had to bring her back, she didn't have enough energy to manage a gate or a portkey on her own."  
  
Harry and Ron took a good look at Lucy for the first time, she did look awfully drained. Her skin was pale and she had a large bruise forming at her temple. But Diego didn't seem concerned, and smoothed the hair back from her forehead with a large, callused hand.   
  
Ron tugged at Hermione's arm, "We're gonna be late for potions!"  
  
Hermione nodded reluctantly, said goodbye to Diego, and followed the boys from the room.  
  
When Lucy woke up several hours later, there was no one in the room but Diego. He grinned at her, and settled himself at the foot of her bed, facing her cross legged.  
  
"How long have I been out?"  
  
"About 18 hours, how's your head?"  
  
"Ready to split open, are you sure that bell isn't still ringing? I think I can hear it in there."  
  
Diego chuckled and handed her a mug of tea, "Mama's specialty, she sent us over with a bag, knew you'd be needing it."  
  
Lucy grinned and took the cup in both hands, "Thank her for me. I've missed her cooking, among other things."  
  
Diego heard the tone in her voice and forced her to look him in the eye. "It hasn't been that bad, has it?"  
  
Lucy shrugged, "You try studying for years and then having people who have studied for less tell you that everything you know is wrong, just because its different and THEY can't understand it. They treat me like I'm some kind of prehistoric magic impaired moron and sometimes it makes me want to hurt them. Problem is, this place isn't safeguarded for our kind of magic, so thinking too long along those lines could get me into trouble. If I'm not being ignored in class I'm getting these condescending explanations of HOW things work, when all I want to know is why they bother to do things in such an inefficient round about kind of way in the first place!" Lucy threw herself back against the pillows in frustration and turned her face to the window.  
  
Diego sighed and took her hand, rubbing the stress points, the way she'd showed him how to do several years ago, silently empathizing.  
  
Lucy broke the silence, "Have you heard anything from the Professor?"  
  
"Yours or mine?"  
  
"Either."  
  
"Profesor Giraldi called through the mirror a few hours ago. Just to remind me that this little escapade doesn't get me out of trials this week."  
  
Lucy grimaced in sympathy, "Which ones to you have?"  
  
"Long distance telepathy, potions and salves of the greater plains area, and I have the animal mindspeech test."  
  
Lucy scrunched up her face in thought, "Is that the one where they make you attempt to stop a heard of cattle in full gallop?"  
  
Diego nodded. "Only reason he didn't test me for it sooner was that I didn't have the hovering ability to get myself out of the way if, when I can't do it."  
  
Lucy gave him a sympathetic look. "Feel lucky, when Profesor de La Vega decided to test me, the ranchers had taken all the herds to market."  
  
"So..."  
  
"So he locked me in one of the workrooms with a bunch of Chief Tanejo's pit vipers."  
  
"He didn't!"  
  
"Best hovering exercise I ever got. I was flat against the ceiling until I got them calmed down, they're suspicious little bastards. Of course, then the profesor made the mistake of thinking animal mindspeech is universal and stuck me in front of a herd of buffalo the next summer when we were visiting his old friends. Damn near killed me. Turns out I can't reach animals with that little capacity for it. It's a miracle I can get through to Juaquin."  
  
They were still laughing when Faustas landed on the sill. Lucy gave him an affectionate scratch under the chin.  
  
::Come on, say it, who did a good job?::  
  
::I have no idea what you are talking about, and frankly, the next time you decide to go against school policy, kindly leave me out of it. Do you have any idea of the trouble I got in because of you? If you hadn't saved the school they'd have...oh never mind, I get no appreciation from either of you, none at all.::  
  
Lucy and Diego just laughed and took turns scratching Faustas as the hawk tried desperately to look entirely put out. They were interrupted by the sound of Profesor de La Vega clearing his throat, and turned to see Lucy's mentor standing calmly in the middle of the room.  
  
Of course he wasn't really there, but from the look of him it was almost too close to tell he was just a projection.  
  
"If you three are finished, perhaps we might discuss a few things before Diego has to leave?"  
  
Lucy frowned, "Does he have to? Why can't Diego and I both study here? It would be so much easier if there was just someone el-"  
  
"Out of the question Lucy, and you know that. Diego wasn't invited and what's more important, Profesor Giraldi isn't done with him. And despite what you may think my mischievous ward, I'm not done with you either."  
  
"Then why did you send me away? Why couldn't Juaquin have gone, he was far more eager than I was!"  
  
"We don't have time to debate it Lucy, the subject is closed, you stay here querida, and Diego, tu regresas hoy, you are back here today, understand?"  
  
Diego nodded sullenly. "How is everything back there?"  
  
The Profesor sighed, "Frankly I think we're all in a state of shock. Luckily, we didn't lose anyone, but several of the elders are badly hurt and completely exhausted. The defenses need to be patched, the land thoroughly cleansed, and we still can't figure out how those ladrones found us. It's a mess, but one we should be able to clean up, if everyone cooperates and works together, including the estranged members of our little family," he looked at Lucy hard.  
  
Lucy sighed, "Fine, fine, I'll stay, I'll be good."  
  
Profesor de La Vega smiled, "That's very good chica, you know we all miss you, but this is the way things have to be. Now, I have some projects going that need my attention. Lucy, I'll talk to you in a few weeks, Diego, I'll be telling your mother she can expect you tonight."  
  
Diego nodded. After the image vanished he groaned and sprawled across Lucy's bed, his head in her lap. "Now I really can't be late, she'll massacre me." Lucy laughed and rubbed his temples.  
  
"It won't be that bad, just a month or so more and I'll be back for Christmas. And they have plenty of stuff around here we can use to make our lesson's with Juaquin entertaining!"  
  
Diego smiled, then crawled back to his bed to catch a few hours of sleep before his trip.  
  
It was late that night at Hogwarts, but just the right time at Espiritu, when Lucy took Diego up to the roof to say goodbye. She'd already activated the portkey and set it for the sala of the Alvarez rooms at Espiritu. All that remained was to say goodbye.  
  
Diego gave her a big hug, lifting her feet off the ground and swinging her around. "You keep in touch more often, ok? I know the international owl service is lousy around here, but do it anyway. Giraldi has me spending hours hovering over the canyon and I need something to occupy the other half of my brain."  
  
Lucy nodded, leaning her forehead against his chest before pulling away. "Keep Juaquin on his toes for me."  
  
Diego nodded, turning his face slightly away before taking the chain of the locket. "Try and stay out of trouble for once Montero," was all he said before grasping the pendant and vanishing. The only sound on the roof beside the wind was a tinkle as the locket fell to Lucy's feet. Lucy stared stoically at the spot where Diego had been before quickly scooping up the locket and hiding it in her pocket before Faustas remembered she wasn't supposed to have it.  



	8. Chapter Eight: There's Always Room for J...

There's Always Room For Jello  
  
  
"You did remember to move the flammable potions into the other room, didn't you Hermione? Ow!"  
  
Ron jumped as Hermione elbowed him in the ribs, then ducked as a bolt of...something, quite possibly green jello, darted across the room above his head. The source was Lucy, still struggling with her wand.  
  
'She's doing her best Ron, and as I recall you weren't so great yourself." Hermione was trying to conceal her anxiety from Lucy, who was growing more frustrated by the moment, especially when, rather than burning a clear mark in the bullseye Harry was holding, she blew it up.  
  
Harry poked his head out from behind the desk he'd leaped behind. "I don't suppose anyone else would like to volunteer for this job?"  
  
Lucy righted the fallen desk with a wave of her free hand, "Don't bother." Hermione frowned as desks and chairs rearranged themselves in the small classroom under Lucy's steady gaze; Lucy was supposed to be learning to work with her wand, but she had this annoying habit of doing anything else she possibly could with her "other magic" as they called it. When the entire room was spotless Lucy, wrapping the wand in the cloth, turned and left the room.  
  
"Phew, I thought she might very well have got us all that time." Hermione smacked him up the side of the head, sighed, and headed back for the common room.  
  
Ron stared after her, "Come on now Harry, I mean, tell me I have a point. The girl's a disaster. If she goes to McGonagall for her exemption exam, she'll flop, McGonagall will roast her for sure."  
  
"She's certainly doesn't seem to be half as promising as Dumbledore made her out to be, maybe she's just tired from whatever happened in New Mexico."  
  
"What did happen in New Mexico?"  
  
Harry shrugged, "Beats me. Dumbledore won't talk about it and Lucy doesn't seem like she wants to say much. And whatever it was has got Hermione, Parvati and the rest of the girls too stunned to mention it. You notice she won't talk about it, not even with us, just says we wouldn't believe her if she told us. Whatever it was, it was weird."  
  
Ron stared at the spot of green jello on the wall, "Harry, everything involved with this girl is weird."  
  
  
Ron would have felt vindicated if he had seen Lucy in the next few minutes. Hermione followed her back to the girls' room, where she found the wand wrapped and lying on the bed, Faustas' perch gone, and the window open. She stuck her head out and looked up to see Lucy crawling up the wall at a staggering speed. Hermione shivered and brought her head back inside, she hated it when Lucy did that, it made her dizzy. Lucy's ability to hover also meant that she had perfect balance. As long as she had something to rest a part of her body on, she could use it to climb up or across. It looked creepy, but it was one of Lucy's ways to relax.  
  
Lucy felt a bit guilty as she looked down to see Hermione shake her head and go back in the room, but right now she wasn't in the mood for a Granger pep talk. She was in the mood for some of Diego's mothers' special rice in tortillas with plenty of frijoles and jalepeno sauce. She wanted to be climbing a mesa in the canyon south of Espiritu, not a Hogwarts wall in winter. She shivered as she stepped off the wall and sat on a small ledge five feet below the top of the tower. It was cold and she wished she had brought a coat.  
  
No, she wished she was home! It was almost December, and although she fit in better, at least among Gryffindors, she couldn't use her wand for anything other than kindling and whats more, she felt like a coward hiding out here while there was work to be done back home.   
  
*There's nothing you could help with back there anyway, and you know it.*  
  
Lucy looked up to where Faustas was circling above, *Damn bird, stay out of my head.*  
  
*You think I'm trying to hear you? You're getting lazy querida, just because most of these ingleses can't hear you doesn't mean my senses are off. You're projecting so far they could hear you in Diagon Ally.*  
  
Faustas was right, and Lucy knew it, lately she hadn't been trying to shield much, no one could listen in here anyway, unlike back home.  
  
*You might want to watch that querida.*  
  
*Yes, oh graybeard, I'll shield better from now on, happy?*  
  
*Well, there's no need to be snappish about it. It's not my fault you can't work a wand to save your life.*  
  
*And there's no need for you to be so happy about that.*  
  
*It's your own fault, chica. If you listened a little more-*  
  
"I am listening!" Lucy shouted into the air at the bird. "But whatever they tell me, it doesn't make sense!"  
  
And with that she slammed her shields down so hard Faustas' head gave a little snap as she shut him out. He had nothing to do but continue flying as Lucy climbed back down to her room, and hope she didn't latch the window shut.  
  
  
"So how's she coming Harry?" Seamus leaned over at breakfast to grab the eggs and jerked his head to where Lucy was sitting near Parvati, Lavender, and Hermione, who was still a bit steamed.  
  
"Don't ask," was all Ron said before cramming another bite of toast into his mouth.   
  
Harry rolled his eyes and Ron and turned back to Seamus. "I don't know, she seems pretty smart, but she just doesn't get it. No control at all, like the wand is too foreign to her to even attempt... anything."  
  
"Hmmm," Seamus chewed his food, eyeing Lucy, "It's got to be weird, learning a whole new type of magic, and you probably can't put it in terms she's familiar with."  
  
Harry's eyebrows went up, "I don't think Hermione ever thought to do that; but she couldn't anyway, she tried, but she doesn't have the ability, unless, like Lucy said, its latent."  
  
Seamus frowned, "Latent?"  
  
Harry nodded, "See, Lucy says anyone can have the ability, western magic doesn't run in families like our kind, and she just happens to have... oh what did she call 'em Ron?"  
  
Ron gulped his food down, "Channels, she's got a lot of channels open. Says most of us could probably use other channels too, if "our eyes weren't buttoned up, sewed up, and sautered closed', that was the phrase she used, right Harry?"  
  
Harry rolled his eyes, "Close enough."  
  
Seamus scratched his head, "My grandmother, or was it my great grandmother, she used to talk about channels. It was before I got accepted to Hogwarts, and she said the Druid Academy was always a possibility, if all my channels stayed open."  
  
"Do you know how to do all the stuff Lucy does?"  
  
Seamus shook his head, "Not nearly, but I used to be able to get my grandmother to look at me, just by thinking about her. I asked her once why I can't do that anymore, and she said I was blocked. Didn't say whether I could get unblocked though."  
  
Harry looked carefully at Seamus, "Do you think you could explain the wand to Lucy in a way she'll understand it?"  
  
Seamus looked at Lucy, then back at Harry, "No guarantees, but I could give it a shot."  
  
  
Lucy scrunched up her face and focused on the target leaning against the wall, "Are you trying to tell me leprechauns are real?" She aimed the wand at the target, flicked her wrist and the red beam of energy burned a hole directly in the center of the bull's eye.  
  
"No, but nice shot." Seamus placed a water jug and a glass on the desk. "Druids are not leprechauns, although both are real, druids are far more ancient. And their magic is has elements of both western and European, though it's mostly European. They do talk inside each others' heads though."  
  
"Good thing," Lucy didn't look at Seamus as she talked, instead focusing on filling the glass with water using the wand, not her head, it was annoying and took a great deal of control. "If they didn't I'd never have learned how to use this thing."  
  
Seamus grinned and shrugged, "Oh, from what I've seen I'd say you would have beaten the truth out eventually. You just needed the explanations in terms of mind magic rather than our magic."  
  
Lucy lowered the jug back to desk, "Well, Hermione might as well have been speaking Swahili for all I could understand her, although she really did try. It's going to vex her something awful that three hours with you managed what three weeks with her couldn't."  
  
It was true, once Seamus had explained, from what his grandmother had taught him and his own experience with "mind magic" the basics of wand usage in terms Lucy understood, she had no problem applying what Hermione had been trying to teach her. Inside of a week Seamus took her through all the basic spells with the wand, and they had only a dozen more before Lucy was ready for her exemption exam.  
  
Seamus blushed a bit, "Like I said, I bet you would have figured it out, or Faustas for that matter, all you needed was a little time."  
  
Seeing Faustas on the windowsill, and keeping her "casting hand" behind her back, Lucy used the wand to make the glass disappear, reappear above Faustas, and turn over. If the hawk wasn't used to Lucy's pranks, her would have been soaked. Lucy then used a simple spell to dry up the water, and return the glass to its place, relying only on the wand.  
  
Seamus gave her a look, "Show off."  
  
Lucy grinned, "Oh, and you can do better?"  
  
Seamus knew a challenge when he heard it, "Anytime Montero."  
  
Lucy froze, "Time...the professor, dios mio I'm gonna be late!"  
  
She grabbed the book of fourth year spells Seamus was lending her, scooped up her wand, and gave Seamus a quick hug before she ran out the door, calling, "Thanks Seamus!" over her shoulder.  
  
Seamus just looked after her, dumbstruck, "One of these days that girl is gonna run smack into a wall." He smiled to himself and began to clean up.  
  
  



	9. Chapter Nine: Wands, Schmands

Wands, Schmands  
  
Lucy, meanwhile, was making a mad dash for her room. She'd completely forgotton about her pre-arranged conference with the profesor. And if she knew him at all, she knew he wouldn't be in a mood to wait in limbo for her.  
  
Sure enough, the minute she pulled the large, oval mirror out of its deerskin pouch and set it on the stand, Profesor de La Vega's image appeared in the glass.  
  
"You're late chica."  
  
Lucy flopped down on the bed. She took a moment before focusing her energy and facing the mirror. "I was busy. You're the one who told me I had to learn to use the wand."  
  
"You're learning?"  
  
Lucy grinned at his surprise, "Didn't think I was up to it? Thanks be to the Lady I met someone who was able to explain the Hogwarts hocus pocus in terms I could understand. I'm actually doing quite well, but I still don't understand why."  
  
"Well, it could be your stubburn nature-"  
  
"I meant why do I need to learn it profesor! Thank you for the confidance in my abilities."  
  
The image chuckled, "I was joking mija, I'm not surprised at all that you caught the hang of things once they were explained properly; it's typical of you. And I know it's frustraing being forced to learn to do spells with a wand that are just as easily, if not more easily, done without. But starting soon, or so I've been told, you and the rest of the fifth years will begin to learn more advanced spells that require the use of a wand."  
  
"But why? Why when so many other forms of magic don't even"-  
  
The image of the profesor held up a hand to silence his student. "Still thinking you know everything linda? Yes, many of the anciant, non-eurupean based magics don't generally use wands, but chica, thay almost all do have spells that, in order to be cast safely, require the use of an intermediary. There are some magics you don't want to take into yourself, and it is easiest to work with them safely when they are kept at a distance."  
  
"That still doesn't explain the need for a wand all the time."  
  
The profesor shrugged, "Some people need a little distance. Remember your history linda, the magic you learn now didn't have a benevolant land to mature in. Europe is old, and its history is violent. The founders of Espiritu had relative peace compared to early wizards of England and the continant. What does that tell you?"  
  
Lucy sighed, the last thing she needed was a history lesson. But the look in her mentor's eyes demanded an answer. "That in such a hostile environment the wizards didn't trust the land? That with so much upheaval it was thought safest to work with magic through a small, wooden liason?"  
  
The profesor nodded. "And they were probably right. So many people fighting for power, I wouldn't have wanted to tap into the magic lines with my bare hands either. So try and keep an open mind chica."  
  
Lucy looked at her wand and nodded, then she remembered the story the man in the wand shop had told her. And she related the event to her mentor.  
  
"The shopkeeper said the wizard came in when his grandfather was a boy?"  
  
Lucy nodded, "But the man in the shop was pretty anciant."  
  
Profesor de La Vega raised his eybred, "A little more respect for the aged, thank you Lucy. Still, that would be about four generations before you... who from Espiritu went to London?"  
  
"Oh, there's something else profesor, hold on." Lucy hopped off the bed to rummage in her trunk, then emerged with the fabric that had been wrapped around the wand when she had first bought it. "It was origionally wrapped in this. Isn't that the same design as the tapestry outside my room?"  
  
The old man squinted to see the image of the fabric, "Madre de los Luces, you're right. It's the same design as the work of dona Mercedes Aleman; that must have been a scrap from the origional she never used. It's over 120 years old... Asriel, don Asriel made a journey to Europe at that time..."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Don Asriel, came to Espiritu from the Blackfoot. But he was old, older than I am now when he made the journey... he was origionally part of a nation in Georgia, he was sent west with his family on the Trail of Tears. It doesn't make sense though; Asriel didn't know Mercedes at all, they were both very introverted, they enjoyed their solitude."  
  
"So why did Asriel want to come over here?"  
  
"I don't know, he was always searching for something, even the Espritu master at that time couldn't help him, but he was called here just the same. I'll try to find out more, chica, and talk to you next week, but keep that cloth safe, and your eyes open. We may not know much about Asriel, but Mercedes was a Diviner, a Seer, and if she wanted that cloth sent over with Asriel, she knew whose hands it would fall into. There are no accidents Lucy, remember that. And try to keep out of trouble."  
  
"Easy for you to say padrino."  
  
Her mentor smiled at her, and the image faded.  
  
Lucy fell back on her bed, staring at the piece of cloth in her hands. What was she supposed to do now?  
  
  
"I can do it!"  
  
"I'm not saying you can't, just that it might be safer to test it on something non-living first!"  
  
"So you don't trust me?"  
  
"I didn't say that-"  
  
"But you meant it."  
  
Seamus threw up his hands in defeat. It was the last major spell Lucy needed to perfect before her exemption exam. Everything else had gone smoothly, but there was some argument over what she was supposed to turn into a brick and back again. Lucy needed to practice on something living, but no one was volunteering any subjects. He was tired, and from the look on Lucy's face, she was having another of the migraines that had been plaguing her for the past two weeks.  
  
"Look, Luce, why don't you just change the chalk into a bird one more time."  
  
"But I've done that four times now!" Even as Lucy was looking and yelling at Seamus, her wrist flicked sideways and three pieces of blackboard chalk turned into pigeons. Lucy quickly turned them back before they could begin to fly around like last time. That had taken forever. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, her head was throbbing, again, and while she wished she had another pill to take, she refused to say anything that would give Seamus an excuse to end the session.  
  
"So?" She stared hard at Seamus, who wasn't giving her any answers.  
  
Seamus stared back at Lucy, but he noticed she had wrinkled her forehead and had that detached look she got when she was "talking" to someone. In a few seconds her eyes resumed there normal, sharp, focused state.   
  
"Fine," she snapped, "If you don't believe I can do it, I'll just practice with someone who will. Thank you for all your help just the same."   
  
The last sentence was so cold and detached it hit Seamus in the gut like a ton of bricks. He was still coming up with a response when Lucy sighed and headed towards the window. Oblivious to the sleet and freezing rain that hadn't stopped since breakfast, she shuffled across the ledge to the corner, where the ledge was big enough to sit comfortably. She pulled her knees to her chest and started flicking her wrist out into the air.  
  
"Lucy! You'll be frozen and soaked! Don't be an idiot come-"   
  
That was when Seamus saw Faustas. As the bird circled and dove, he changed from his normal color to a shocking shade of blue, pink, and then purple. He landed on Lucy's outstreatched arm, and she changed the huge bird into a turtle, a typewriter, a brick and a puddle of green jello before returning him to his usual form and scratching him under his chin. She whispered something in his ear, and launched the hawk into the sky. Seamus thought she was done, but Faustas returned with a wriggling squirril between his talons. Lucy's forehead wrinkled and the squirril calmed itself. Then Lucy changed it into a bottle of ink, a sponge, a book, and a piece of chalk before returning it to its rightfull form, and giving it a handfull of nuts. The squirril ate the nuts quickly and scampered away over the roof.  
  
"You still here?" Was all she said to Seamus when she pulled herself back in through the window. She passed right by him and out the door, the puddles drying themselves quickly behind her.  
  



	10. Chapter Ten: Please Pass The Advil

Please Pass The Advil  
  
Lucy passed the wand competancy exam for levels one through five two weeks before the winter holidays. McGonagall begrudgingly passed her, giving her a note for all of her classes stating that she had passed with flying colors and was as proficient as any other Hogwarts student. Up untill then Lucy had not been allowed to use the wand in class, and if she couldn't use her own magic she needed someone else to cast the spells for her. Lucy hated that, so she was thrilled and she ran down the hall, the pass clutched in her hand.  
  
The first thing she wanted to do was tell the professor. Actually, the first thing she was going to do was take the last that remaind of the tea Diego's mother had sent. That worked better than any pain pill, and she didn't want the latest headache to interfere with her contact with the profesor.  
  
Minutes later she was crossed legged on her bed, a mug of steaming tea in her hands, waiting for the profesor to answer her summons and appear in the mirror.  
  
He wasn't as she had expected. He looked haggard and worn and not at all happy to see her, but trying to hide it. Things back home must still be in a mess.   
  
"Lucy? Is something wrong?" Lucy was puzzled, this wasn't right.  
  
"No, nothing is wrong padrino. Actually, I passed that cursed wand exemption exam, I don't have to take the remedial classes next semester!"  
  
"Wonderful, linda. I knew you would do it."  
  
"There's another thing, profesor, we need to discuss how I'm getting home. I'd rather not gate, if it is all the same to you," she grinned, her mentor had heard all about Juaquin's botched gating job several times.  
  
But a cloud passed over Professor de La Vega's face. "Yes, Lucy, about the holidays..."  
  
Something was definitely wrong, Lucy leaned forward, "Yes, padrino?"  
  
"Lucy, I'm sorry, but you can't come home for the break, mija."  
  
Lucy just stared at the mirror.  
  
"Lucy, did you hear me? Disculpame chica, but you must stay at school over the holidays."  
  
Lucy shook her head, "You can't be serious, that's ridiculous. I've been living for this break padrino. It's cold and wet here and I want to come home! I want to see you and Diego and Rosa. To sleep in my own bed... why would you say something like that?"  
  
The professor sighed and rubbed his forehead. "It would be best for you to stay at school"-  
  
"But I passed my exam, I'm not behind! Ask any of the teachers here, ask Dumbledore! They may not like Western magic, but I've done everything I've been asked to do!" Lucy was on the verge of tears.  
  
"Mija, it's too dangerous.."  
  
"Why? How can Espiritu be dangerous? I've lived there practically my whole life! And yet, here.. here they lost a student last year, how can here be more safe?"  
  
"Calmate mija..."  
  
"No! Tell me! If you are going to keep me here. tell me!"  
  
There was a pause, and the professor spoke again, sounding more tired than ever.  
  
"There have been more attacks Lucy"-  
  
Lucy stared at the image, more attacks on her home? "What? They couldn't have attacked Espiritu again, I would have felt it-"  
  
"Let me finish!" Her mentor sounded tired and angry, and Lucy froze. "There have been, thank the Lady, no more attacks here. But the same force that attacked our home has been attacking other institutions around the world continuously for almost three weeks."  
  
"Where?"  
  
"Smaller schools: the aborigional center in the Australian Outback, the Shinto magic school at Kyoto, several of the small sequestered schools along the Amazon, especially in Brazil, the conservatory on Tierra del Fuego, the institute under Easter Island... and too many others."  
  
"Any of the larger schools?"  
  
"Not many since us. There was an attack on the conservatory in the Congo last week, and we think they tried for the Saharah community, but you know that's a travelling school, they attacked Algeria, the students were in the Sudan by then. They probably attacked the site where the school was two months ago, it left a strong magical residue."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"We didn't want to worry you. None of the attacks have been remotely close to Hogwarts."  
  
"But these schools are all in the web, shouldn't I have felt something..." she pause for a moment and rubbed her forehead, then realized, "The headaches, this is why I've been having the headaches?"  
  
"You mija? I'm sorry, I think we assumed that if you were so far away you wouln't feel the disturbance."  
  
"Wouldn't feel it? Padrino I've spent more time at Espiritu than Diego, and most of the younger professors, of course I felt it."  
  
"Disculpame chica, no one realized the tie would be that strong. I would have told you soner if I had known the attacks where affecting you. I'll have Rosa send another bag of her tea, we've been drinking it by the gallon."  
  
"How is everyone?"  
  
The professor sighed, "Being in the school magnifies the disturbances, but once we've heard the alarm, the shielding blocks us from most of it. What is more tireing is discussing what to do abou it. There have been gates opening and closing here round the clock. We've been sending professors anywhere they can be of help. In fact, Giraldi leaves tomorrow for the Sudan. He's convinced me to let him take along Diego."  
  
"Diego can go to the Sudan, but I can't come home?"  
  
"The Sahara school never was attacked, and they move so fast, Deigo will be perfectly safe there. Safer than he will be here. And you will be safer where you are, so no more arguements, am I understood?"  
  
"Perfectly," was all the reply Lucy could manage. Just then, the whining voice of Juaquin could be heard in the background.  
  
"I'm sorry mija, I need to go now. But Diego said to remind you to talk with him later. Adios muchacha!"  
  
And with that the image flickered and vanished.   
  
  
"Well what did you say?"  
  
"Nothing, we just had a fight, leave me alone."  
  
"That was almost two weeks ago, and she's been in high dungeon for the past week. She won't talk to me, are you sure you don't know anything?"  
  
Seamus shook his head. Truth be told he didn't have the foggiest idea what was wrong with Lucy. She'd been sullen after the fight, they both had. But he was thrilled when he learned she'd passed her exam, and thought she would cheer up. But she just got worse. Hermione, as ever, was trying to set things right, and had trapped him in the hall after potions, but Lucy wasn't opening up to anyone.  
  
"Well, we've got to do something. She just sits on her bed and argues with Faustas all day. And they do it all in each others' heads, staring at each other with that funny look in their eyes untill one of them leaves. Not a sound; it's too creepy, Lavender can't stand to be in there when they do that."  
  
Seamus shrugged, "Well, she certainly hasn't said anything to me. But if she's fighting with Faustas it probably isn't any problem from around here, he won't listen to her if she's whining about Hogwarts, says it's time she grew up." He smiled, remembering the look on Lucy's face when Faustas had told her that, she'd sputtered for a full minute before telling him what the hawk had said.  
  
Hermione frowned. "None of this makes any sense... Well, thanks anyway Seamus."  
  
"Let me know if you find anything out."  
  
Hermione smiled and started down the hall. "Sure, but you ought to try talking to her again."  
  
"I told you, she hates me."  
  
Hermione laughed, "I've lived with her all year, and while she gets annoyed easily, Lucy hardly hates anyone, and least of all you. See you later Seamus!"  
  
Watching Hermione take off down the hall, Seamus could only wish he had half of her optimism.  
  
  
Lucy didn't want to talk to anyone.  
  
And, unfortunately, the winter had set in full at Hogwarts. The snow and ice that were beginning to acculmulate around the eaves of the roof made it impossible for her to escape to her usual spot, just when she needed it the most. And with Faustas increasingly preoccupied with what was going on elsewhere in the world, she didn't have anyone to help pull her out of her depressing funk of anxiety and self pity.  
  
Which was how Seamus found her one Saturday afternoon, brooding on a couch in the common room as everyone else trooped downstairs and out for a trip into Hogsmeade.  
  
"You're not going?"  
  
Lucy continued to stare out the window and didn't turn back, "No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I don't feel like it."  
  
"Come on Lucy, listen, I'm sorry, but you've got to try and pull yourself out of this. A trip into town will take your mind off whatever it is that is bothering you."  
  
"I seriously doubt it."  
  
"Or... you could try talking to someone about it."  
  
"Trust me, they wouldn't understand."  
  
Seamus was becoming more and more exhasperated. "Well of course they won't, you won't say anything! You've got people practically lining up to listen to you, but you won't say a word, how does that solve anything?"  
  
Lucy sat up and glared at Seamus. "If there was something to be solved don't you think I would have done something already! There's nothing I can do! I just have to sit here, thousands of miles away, safe and protected and completely useless!"  
  
Seamus just stared at her, to shocked to say anything. Lucy looked angry enough to rant on and on, but suddenly she crumpled back on the couch, her features contorted in pain, hands flat against the sides of her head, pressing against her temples. Within moments Faustas was at the window, which Seamus unlatched. The huge hawk settled himself as delicately as possible on Lucy's left arm, which she had resting on her stomach. The minute Faustas touched her, Lucy's face relaxed a bit, and she opened her eyes. Seamus was at her side.  
  
"Lucy? Lucy what's going on? What's wrong?"  
  
Lucy closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, and said in a distant, detached voice, "Cairo, they're attacking Cairo."  
  
Seamus shook his head, "Who's attacking Cairo?"  
  
Lucy groaned, "Don't shout! That makes it worse! I don't know who, I just know where."  
  
Seamus grimaced in sympathy, "Sorry... can I get you something, do you need to go see Madam Pomfrey?"  
  
Lucy shook her head violently, and then groaned when she realized that only made things worse. "No! She means well, I'm sure, but... I don't think I can survive much more of her treatment. This is nothing she can help me with anyway."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Lucy sighed and scratched Faustas under the chin, "I think I'd better tell you the whole story."  
  
  
  
"Wow," was all Seamus could say when Lucy finally finished telling him everything that was going on. Lucy was just staring out the window. She hadn't passed out, but from the way she was gripping the side of the couch Seamus could guess she was still in a bit of pain.  
  
"So, in light of everything, shouldn't the fact that you have to spend Christmas here, not the worst thing in the world I might add, seem sort of small in comparison?"  
  
Lucy looked back at him, "I know, it should, it's stupid and it's selfish and I know that ... It's just that... they attacked my school! MY school. The one place in the world that was untouchable and they were there... and now they're everywhere! If Espiritu wasn't safe, what is? The only thing I ever had to depend on and now I can't go back, it can't shield me from anything, it's like I've been cut off or kicked out or something, and it wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't out here all alone..." Lucy's voice trailed off as she went back to staring out the window.  
  
Seamus wasn't about to let her do that. Her grabbed her by both shoulders and gave her a shake; Lucy was too shocked to say anything. "Listen to me Lucy! Now I don't know hardly anyhting about your school, but I seriously doubt that if you were going to be cut off or kicked out they'd send you Faustas. And I'm sorry that whatever is going on now took away your sense of security about your home and your school; and trust me on this, losing your sense of security is something any student in this school could tell you about, especially last year. But before you sink to deep into this allow me to brand into the back of that think skull of yours that you are not alone! If you were alone Hermione wouldn't be chattering non-stop about ways to snap you out of this; if you were alone Faustas woudn't be hovering over you all the time; if you were alone you wouldn't have people calling you to that mirror every day; and if you were alone you wouldn't have me sitting here scared to death that somewhere on the other side of the world something is going to happen and you're going to almost pass out again."  
  
And at that Seamus got the entirely unexpected but not entirely unenjoyable reaction of Lucy bursting into tears and ultimately crying into his shoulder.  
  
All in all it had been a very strange afternoon.  
  



	11. Chapter Eleven: Ow! Ow! Ow!

Chapter 11: Ow! Ow! Ow!  
  
  
"You're never going to be able to get these downstairs you know," Lucy commented dryly as she sat on Hermoine's suitcase so she could fasten the clasps. Hermione had succeeded in bringing almost every single book home with her for the holidays.   
  
"It's not that much..." Hermione surveyed the two bags of books and the suitcase of clothes she was bringing with her. "I just hope I haven't forgotton anything."  
  
Lucy gave her a look.  
  
"It's just that I'm sure I brought home more last time... maybe I just ought to stay here after all."  
  
Lucy threw up her hands, "Hermoine! Come on! I'm not unpacking those bags one more time. It's not every day that your cousin gets married and frankly I think it will do you some good to get away from here for a while."  
  
Hermione sat on the bed and began to tie her shoes, "You're probably right."  
  
"Of course I am, now I have one teensy little favor to ask of you."  
  
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"  
  
Lucy rushed on, "It's not much really, a trifle, it'll take you less than an hour-"  
  
Hermione interrupted. "Just spit it out Lucy."  
  
"Look up something for me in your copy of Hogwarts: A History?"  
  
Hermione wasn't expecting that. "What?"  
  
Lucy sighed, "You left it at home didn't you? I'm sure I didn't pack it up with the rest of your books."  
  
Hermione nodded, "Why do you need it?"  
  
"There are some pages ripped out of the one in the library, I think what I'm looking for is on one of them."  
  
"Someone ripped pages out of a library book!" Hermione looked stricken.  
  
"Focus Hermoine! I don't care that someone was careless, I just want a look at those pages"  
  
"What do you want looked up?"  
  
"Any information you can find on a foreign wizard who came to Hogwarts between 1875 and 1885."  
  
"That's not much for me to go on."  
  
"If I had more information I wouldn't need you to do my footwork for me, will you do it?"  
  
Hermione got a mischievious look on her face. "All right, on one condition."  
  
Lucy gave her a wary look, "What?"  
  
"Help me carry the bags down."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"I'm.... going.... to get you for this..." Lucy panted as she heaved two bags down the stairs. Hermione followed with the considerably lighter suitcase.  
  
"Tut tut, who's making who do work on her vacation?"  
  
"Hermione! You were going to work anyway, unless you brought all these books for holiday fire fodder, in which case I refuse to carry them any-"  
  
Lucy's rant was interrupted as the bag she was fighting with fell on top of her, knocking her the rest of the way to the bottom of the stairs, where she landed in a heap, buried under Hermione's book bags.  
  
Hermione couldn't manage to do anything more than laugh hysterically and step daintily over Lucy as she came into the common room.  
  
"Help, oh help! Hermione just wait until I'm free and will someone get me out of here the bags are crushing my ribs!"  
  
Lavender and Parvati simply stepped over Lucy who was pinned down with only her right arm free to wave frantically.  
  
"Are you trying to kill her Hermione?" Seamus came out of the staircase from the boys' dormitory, one light duffel bag swung over his shoulder, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth as he saw Lucy's predicament.  
  
"One word and I'll make certain you never have children." There was fire in Lucy's eyes, and she thrust her right arm up in a pathetic gesture, but still raising her head proudly. "Be a gentleman."  
  
Seamus dragged the bags off her and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet so suddenly that she was thrown off balance and fell forward into his arms. Seamus looked down at her head, "Always glad to be a gentleman."  
  
Lucy pushed against his chest and righted herself, stepping back, giving him an amused but still angry look, and went to pick up the bags.  
  
Seamus sighed and grabbed the second one from her as she went to drag it across the floor. "Get some rest this week Montero, you're losing your sense of humor."   
  
Lucy just raised her chin and dragged the other bag out through the hole with as much dignity as she could muster.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"You'll write me as soon as you find anything?"  
  
"I promise, now forget about it until then sweetie, this obsession can't be healthy."  
  
Hermione gave Lucy a hug and a kiss on the cheek before following Dean out to the carriages. Lucy waved goodbye until the carriage doors shut and was about to head down to the library for just one little peak into a book she thought might be promising, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.  
  
It was Seamus.  
  
He was a stair above her and grinning. "Think you'll be able to avoid burning the old place down while I'm away?"  
  
Lucy gave in and smiled. "I might manage it, but I'm not making any promises on Faustas' account. Havea merry Christmas Seamus." She went to move past him up the stairs when Seamus grabbed her wrist.  
  
Lucy turned back and stared at him looking up at her, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.   
  
Seamus swallowed hard, then managed a convincing grin. "Have a nice holiday Lucy."  
  
And with that he turned, duffel slung over his shoulder, and walked out into the snow.  
  
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Lucy didn't know what to make of Seamus's behaviour and fortunately, she didn't have too much time to contemplate it anyway. She holed herself up in the library, surrounded by every obscure book she could find that covered the period of history she was looking for don Asriel in. Nothing was helping. She was so deep in concentration that when she felt a tap on her shoulder she screamed aloud.  
  
She looked up to see Harry standing next to her, looking almost as surprised as she was.   
  
He simply stood there staring as Lucy gave him an appraising look, and when he didn't speak, turned back to her book.  
  
Harry nodded, "Uh huh, that turns it, come on." With that he removed the book from Lucy's grasp, grabbed her arm, and pulled her away from the table.  
  
"What...." Lucy could merely run to keep up with Harry's longer strides as he marched her out of the library.  
  
"You been in that ruddy library almost every day since break started, and I'm going to get you out of there before you turn into Hermione or worse."   
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"Move."  
  
"I told you, I was abysmal at this game before the pieces started moving, it's hop- ow!" Lucy instinctively sucked on the end of her injured finger, which a testy k night had stabbed with his sword. She gave the angry little man what she hoped was a menacing glare and moved her arm farther away from the board.  
  
Harry was sitting across from her, a small pile of Lucy's army grouped on his side of the board, all giving surly looks at Lucy for her poor playing. "Just try it."  
  
"You don't get it..."  
  
"The pawns go forward-"  
  
"Not that!" Lucy looked irritated, "I don't get why it should be so hard for me to find out what happened when don Asriel came here, but its as if it never happened."  
  
"Maybe it didn't."  
  
Lucy shook her head. "He had to have been here. If he was in Diagon Alley he must have come to Hogwarts, he couldn't have come halfway around the world and not visited this place!"  
  
"Maybe he wasn't interested in this kind of magic."  
  
"If he wasn't interested he wouldn't be carrying this wand."  
  
"And the books don't say anything about him?"  
  
Lucy shook her head and began to massage her temples. "I think I'm going crazy, but there's nothing about anything in those books. It's like they forgot to write about it."  
  
"Did you try talking to anyone."  
  
"I can't. This happened 120 years ago, there's no one around here anymore that would have known what went on."  
  
Harry's face became pensive, Lucy noticed, she leaned across the board. "Out with it."  
  
"Lucy, there might be someone here who can tell you what happened."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The ghosts Lucy, the ghosts! Peeves, Nearly Headless Nick, the Bloody Baron, I bet they were around when Asriel was here, and I bet they would remember. Some of the paintings are that old too, you might try asking them."  
  
A smile spread across Lucy's face. "That's perfect!" She got up to go run off, but Harry grabbed her arm and pushed her back down.  
  
"And in order to repay me for that little insight, you're going to sit here and finish this game, and you're going to stay out of the library at least until Christmas, it's not doing you any good anyway."  
  
Lucy sighed and stared at the board. "What does the little horsey do again?"  



	12. Chapter Twelve: Problems With Potergeist...

Chapter Twelve: Problems With Poltergeists  
  
"Yick," Lucy grumbled to herself as she walked into the virtually empty Gryffindor common room. Virtually empty, Harry was tending to the Firebolt in an armchair near the fire. He looked up to see Lucy walk into the room ,soaking wet, wringing out her robes and shaking water off her arms.  
  
"I take it you found Peeves?"  
  
"Found him? I couldn't get rid of him! Once it became ultimately clear that he had no intention of doing anything but insult me and refuse to answer any questions I went looking for Nick. But noooooo, Peeves followed me all over the castle. I got lost twice, stuck in the stairs, and nearly stepped on Mrs. Norris. Yes, I found Peeves all right."  
  
"Maybe he wasn't the best one to go to..."  
  
"Damn straight he wasn't the right one to go to. And none of the paintings I talked to could give me anything, lose track of time when they're in a frame. That leaves only one option, and I really don't want to."  
  
Harry looked up at her as she wrung out her hair by the fire. "What's that?"  
  
Lucy sighed, "I'm going to have to search the castle inch by inch. Asriel was here, I'm sure of it, and if he was here he must have had a workroom or something, at least a place where he could go so that no Hogwarts spells interfered with his casting. I've got to find it."  
  
"Lucy, he could have just used one of the classrooms, you could have been in that room already and not known it."  
  
Lucy shook her head violently. "If Asriel had worked magic in that room, my kind of magic at the levels he was capable of, the room would reek of it, I'd be able to tell."  
  
"And you're really going to do this?"  
  
"I don't have a choice. If professor de La Vega won't tell me and Diego doesn't know, it's up to me to find out. There's a reason the professor isn't letting me come home and I want to know what it is."  
  
"Can it at least wait until after tomorrow?"  
  
"What's tomorrow?"  
  
Harry gave Lucy a Look. "Christmas! Tomorrow is Christmas, Lucy! And if you don't shut up about this guy who you don't know who MAYBE came here over 100 years ago and MAYBE did something, which you also don't know, I'm going to throw you out the window!"  
  
Lucy was so stunned she was at a complete loss for words. Harry smiled. "Good, now you'd better dry off, you look like a drowned rat."  
  
Lucy stuck her tongue out and marched up the stairs.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Christmas morning dawned white and bright, and loud. Lucy had found herself unable to get to sleep, and had actually finally dozed off only a few hours before dawn. But she was awakened by the sound of Harry pounding on her door.   
  
"Wake up Lucy! If we're going to open presents together we're doing it now, I can't wait any longer!"  
  
Lucy rubbed her eyes and threw on a short white dressing gown, climbed out of bed, and opened the door.  
  
Harry stood there, entirely too awake, a bag beside him which Lucy could only assume contained his presents. A quick backward glance also told her that her own gifts had been deposited in front of the trunk at the foot of her bed.  
  
Harry grinned and sat down facing her bed, dumping his bag out on the floor. "Let the games begin." And with no attempt made to act his own age, he began tearing at the wrappings voraciously. Lucy could only grin and dive in as well.  
  
Lucy's pile was a bit smaller than Harry's, but that was probably owing to the fact that she knew far fewer people here at Hogwarts. She was especially touched by the present she received from Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati. It took her a moment to realize what the contraption was before she understood that the ornately carved wood was a new set of shutters for the girls' bedroom window, a set of shutters with a special latch that would enable someone from the outside to open them should the girls need to close them against harsh weather. Faustas would no longer need to bang at the windows.  
  
Harry showed her his latest present from the Dursleys, a single square of toilet paper, as well as another sweater from Mrs. Weasley. "Don't laugh, if she gets word from Ron or Ginny that you're far from your family she might take to sending you one as well!"  
  
There was a small package from Espiritu, but much to Lucy's disappointment, all it contained was three bags of mama Rosa's herbal tea, and a lengthy but entertaining letter from the woman herself. It wasn't that Lucy didn't appreciate the gift, but there weren't any letters from Diego or the professor, and considering it had been the professor's idea to leave her here, it seemed cold indeed that he shouldn't give her any word for Christmas.  
  
She set the box aside with the rest of the gifts, and was about to clean up the wrappings when she spied a small manila envelope that had been buried underneath the other gifts. She picked it up, a little more than curious as to what it might be, and broke the seal. Out fell two things; a note and a small, royal blue velvet bag. She picked up the bag and read the card attached to the leather ties. "Albert Astro's Don't Do It Yourself Skyscapes" and in smaller letters below the fancy writing "North America- Southwestern Edition." Intrigued, Lucy pulled open the bag. But although it was heavy, Lucy couldn't see anything. Puzzled beyond belief, she flipped the card over to read the instructions.   
  
"Congratulations on your purchase of this fine Albert Astro product. Here are a few simple tips on how to set up your own personal skyscape. 1) Make sure you set this up at night, or in a room completely devoid of daylight- you can't see stars during the day silly! 2) Simply toss up your stars into the area where you want them to sparkle. 3) That's all there is to it! Albert Astro's Amazing Twinklers will automatically self arranged into an accurate formation reflecting whatever region you have selected. No need to bother with pesky star charts! And you don't need to rearrange, the Twinklers will automatically move to mimic actual star movement over the course of the night and the year, so you can be assured your miniature sky is no different than the breathtaking original. Enjoy!"  
  
Too impatient to wait for evening, Lucy jumped up and shut the door and pulled the shutters closed, plunging the room into darkness.   
  
"Hey what's the big idea!" She heard Harry shout, and then "Lumos", as the room glowed dimly from the light of his wand. Lucy didn't need any light. She sat crossed legged on her bed and once again opened the little velvet sack. The sight nearly took her breath away. Inside were what must have been hundreds, maybe thousands of tiny sparkling diamonds. They weren't diamonds, of course, but Lucy thought they actually looked much more beautiful. On an impulse she stuck her hand in and seized as many as she could hold. She began to giggle; the little stars were vibrating do fast they tickled her hand. Without any further delay she tossed the whole handful up above her head. The little stars seemed to have a mind of their own, but as they darted into position they stayed strictly within the confines of the space directly above Lucy's bed. Handful after handful went up until the little sack was empty and Lucy lay on her back, staring up into a sky exactly like the one she had gazed at every night since she was a little girl. Who could have known how much she'd missed this?  
  
That was when she remembered the note. She darted up and fumbled around on the floor for the little piece of paper. When her hands finally reached it she mutter "Lumos," and began read. The note itself was brief.   
  
"Dear Lucy, Saw these and thought of you. Might make a Christmas at Hogwarts a little more bearable. Hope they work all right. Merry Christmas, Seamus."  
  
Lucy smiled to herself and tucked the note away. She did remember a piece of conversation from over a month ago, before her wand competency exam. It had been cold all that week, and as she and Seamus sat in the Gryffidor common, vacant for it had been a Hogsmeade weekend, it had started to flurry outside. Lucy had been absolutely incapable of doing anything but stare at it as she hung her head out the window in pure wonder. Faustas hadn't been so thrilled, and had swooped in soon after, snow apparently not as much to his liking as it was to Lucy's.  
  
"So it never snows at Espiritu?" Seamus couldn't help but grin at Lucy's unabashed childish behaviour.  
  
She shook her head. "Nope, I think it might have when I was three, but I can't remember it, the professor told me something about it though. I always thought it sounded nice."  
  
"You ought to tell him."   
  
Lucy shook her head. "Can't, it's four in the morning. Some of the older scholars like to rise that early for meditation or something, but not the professor. He'd never forgive me." She smiled to herself. "There was this one time that Diego and I were playing with these firecracker we'd bought at one of these tourist-trap trading posts on the edge of the reservation, we set them off at about one in the morning- I thought we were going to be thrown to the lions! It didn't matter that 10 year olds weren't supposed to be able to buy them, or that we were supposed to have been asleep, but the fact that we woke Professor de La Vega! We never made that mistake again!" She smiled to herself, and her face took on that whistfull expression she got whenever she thought about home too long.  
  
"You really miss them, don't you?"  
  
Lucy sighed. "It's not just them, it's everything. The weather, the new ways of doing everything, magic and everything else, having class in a stone dungeon rather than on a roof or out in the desert, even the sky's different."  
  
Seamus looked up, "What?"  
  
"The sky, it's different."  
  
"Lucy, there's only one sky, you see the same one they do."  
  
"No I don't, the stars have different positions here, I can barely make out the basic constellations, and that's scary. Diego and I used to be able to find our way back home on moonless nights using the stars, kind of like mariners."  
  
Seamus didn't know what to say.  
  
But he didn't have to. As usual it was Lucy herself, or Lucy with a little help from Faustas, who pulled herself out of the funk on her own. She gave a small smile and shrugged, "It's not such a big deal really, I didn't have the stars when we went to Egypt, I don't need them here." With that she picked herself up to go wash up for supper.  
  
"Lucy?"  
  
She turned back.  
  
"It still is the same sky you know, it looks different, but it's the same sky."  
  
Those words echoed in Lucy's head as she turned the note over in her hands. She would never have thought that Seamus would have remembered that conversation. She lay back on her bed, her hands latched underneath her neck, and thought about that.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
The Christmas feast was quite possibly one of the grandest spectacles Lucy had ever witnessed. Harry was happy to notice that not only did Lucy having a wonderful time, but she hadn't once mentioned don Asriel, or Espiritu for that matter, the entire day. Poppers, for one things, were not something Lucy had encountered before, and she was altogether thrilled with the tiny brass telescope that popped out of the first one she picked up. She was not so thrilled with the magical chess set that emerged later, but Harry forced her to keep it, intent on his mission to teach her to play properly.  
  
For her own part, Lucy was proud of her ability to keep the lack of attention from Espiritu in the back of her mind. After all, there were much more important things going on in the world than how she was spending her holiday.  
  
After the meal she said good night to Harry, and went back up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. She opened the door feeling even more disheartened, turning and shutting it without so much as looking up from her shoes. Which is what made what happened next so surprising.  
  
Her best friend Diego was sitting on her bed.  
  
  



	13. Chapter Thirteen: Wierd Adepts and Warpe...

Chapter 13: Weird Adepts and Warped Walls  
  
"Well, Merry Christmas to you too." Diego just grinned lazily as Lucy stared at him, mouth hanging open, looking very much like a landed fish. The stupefaction didn't last long, however. In the next second she had leapt from the door and thrown her arms around the tall, dark haired boy and was laughing so hard she didn't know where laughing left off and crying began.  
  
For his part, Diego's eyes weren't exactly dry either. Truth be told he'd been worried sick about Lucy ever since he had left her at Hogwarts after the first of the attacks. He knew she was strong and above all people he knew she was capable of handling herself, but she was still all alone here, and he didn't like that, not for one minute. Lucy was one of the most important people in the world to him, and while it seemed that more often than not he was the one closer to danger than she, it always seemed to be Lucy who got herself into some sort of trouble. He still couldn't believe the fact that she hadn't caused a single incident since he'd last seen her, it was good, but it worried him. Innocent pranks had been a common enough pastime for the two of them, and he hadn't stopped the practice since Lucy went away; but it seemed that Lucy had. And when he'd heard that for some reason the distance between Espiritu and England hadn't cut Lucy's tie to the schools inner energy, he'd become scared, scared and angry. Diego had never yelled at an elder, but the day Lucy let it slip to him that she was able to feel the attacks, a week or so after she had told the professor, he'd been outraged. It wasn't fair, here she was, thousands of miles away from home, with people who seemed to think her some sort of substandard witch, unable to enjoy the Espiritu community and yet stilled tied to the pain inflicted upon them. In most cases Lucy got it worse than Diego. Once the disturbance in the web painfully alerted Espiritu to danger, they could take measures as a community to shield themselves from the painful side effects. Lucy didn't have enough power to take such action herself, and had no one to help her.  
  
But despite his worries, Lucy looked fine; pale, but fine. She was no longer out in the burning afternoon sun all day, and her tan had faded a bit, but the she had that same fever-bright look in her eyes she got when she'd been working on some secret project. Even as she was looking at him as if he'd sprouted a second head, he could practically see the gears in her head moving. He knew he'd better tell her now, before she got her hopes up.  
  
She was about to speak, and he held up his hand. "Easy Chiquita, you'd better know something first: I don't control how long I'm here."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I mean, Cinderella, that this coach is going to be zipped back to the big Espiritu pumpkin patch in about six hours." Saying this he held up his wrist. It was encircled in a close fitted seamless band of silver and turquoise, Lucy examined his arm, but could find no latch.  
  
"It's professor Giraldi's, and I'm locked out of it. In six hours he'll activate the spell and the band becomes a portkey again, and I go home... and don't even think about it, the portkey is embedded in the silver on the inside, so even if you're touching it or me, you won't be able to come through. 'No funny stuff' was La Vega's particular instruction, so you'd better believe nothing is going to work."  
  
Lucy sighed, "Leave it to the professor to know me better than I know myself." But she couldn't stay depressed for long, not with Diego here. Not when he could help her like no one else could. She shrugged and bounced off the bed, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him down the stairs behind her.   
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"Honestly Diego, if I knew that I wouldn't need you to help me now would I?" She pulled him through the hole and out the portrait of the fat lady. She paused for a moment and turned left, down a staircase several floors, then came out on the landing she had found the other day, and struck out to the right. Diego simply followed along dazed in her wake.  
  
"Do you have any idea of where you're going?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"What?"  
  
Lucy sighed, "If I explain it will you promise not to stop walking, and to help me?"  
  
Diego knew he'd never find out if he chose otherwise, so he agreed.  
  
Lucy nodded ,stopped short, looked left and right with her scrunched up confused look, then set her face in a stare of determination, and shoving aside a tapestry, took a narrow corridor through the wall on their left.  
  
"It's this whole thing with Don Asriel, it's driving me nuts. I know he has to have something to do with why I'm here and not in Seville or back home with you; and then there's this wand. It is absolutely ridiculous- hold this-" she gestured for Diego to pull back a tapestry that revealed the back of a portrait, which they emerged from and began walking to the left. " for Asriel to have used a wand, and even more ridiculous for him to have left it lying around in the back of Olivander's wand shop. And why on earth was he carrying it wrapped in a bit of tapestry that dona Mercedes had given him? Why did she give it to him? I have to know." They were now making there way up a shallow but narrower flight of stairs. He followed Lucy's example in skipping the fifth and twentieth steps.  
  
"And what does that have to do with us trapping about here like this?"  
  
"If Asriel was here, and I know he must have been here, he would have needed a workroom to do anything remotely productive, and I intend to find it."  
  
"Have you actually- eww what's that? Never mind I don't want to know- felt a trace?"  
  
Lucy shook her head, "Nothing, not a spec. But I have a gut feeling, and besides that, Peeves has seen him."  
  
"Peeves? Seen who?"  
  
"Asriel, the poltergeist."  
  
"Asriel is haunting the castle?"  
  
"No, but a poltergeist who does has seen him, I know it."  
  
"How?"  
  
"He was insulting me, throwing water, pans, toilet paper, and as he was doing it, he was shouting this nonsense, at least I thought it was nonsense."  
  
"What was it?"  
  
"Something to the manner of, 'Let's see you use your ruddy magic to blow me around now!'"  
  
"And this is important because?"  
  
Lucy grinned, "I didn't think it was anything either, but Peeves had plenty to accuse me of without saying something like that, I've never blown him around, I haven't gotton that far. That's when I realized."  
  
"Realized what?"  
  
Lucy's eyes were bright and excited, "That advanced paratelekinetics, the movement of bodies and substances that lie between the terrestrial and infinite planes, is only learnt in advanced, post mastership study. Peeves could only have been so molested if a Espiritu Adept had taken it upon himself to do so."  
  
"And you think that was don Asriel?"  
  
"Who else could it be? I've been in the library, even in the restricted section there's no mention of Hogwarts spells that can physically alter with the state of a poltergeist, it must have been western magic. Asriel must have been pushing Peeves in and out of the two planes. If he had just wanted to push him, Peeves would never have known it was magic."  
  
She looked very proud of herself, and Diego could hardly blame her, it was a good deduction.  
  
"And so now we are looking for a workshop?"  
  
Lucy nodded. "I'm betting Asriel was the journal keeping type, nothing else could have occupied his time so much as to keep him so isolated at Espiritu. If he felt it was so important to record his memoirs, he must have wanted someone to read them. Something must have happened to him that prevented Asriel from passing them on."  
  
"You think dona Mercedes knew about this?"  
  
"Exactly! She was known for her diving finesse. I bet she saw some foggy reading, too vague to be able to prevent anything, but clear enough to know that Asriel may not return and that something had to be done so future generations could reach the memoirs and read whatever was inside."  
  
"So she sent the wand and the tapestry."  
  
Lucy nodded. "I haven't figured the tapestry out yet, but the wand was what brought Asriel into this for me in the first place. If I can find those documents, I'll have fulfilled my purpose, and maybe then I'll be able to come home."  
  
"Nice work."  
  
"Thank you, although I have to admit that Faustas was of tremendous help in most parts of it, he knew all the facts, but the theories and deductions were mine."  
  
"So then Dick Tracy, where's the workroom?"  
  
"Haven't the foggiest. I'm just trying to get as lost as possible, that way I'll be sure to walk in some room I haven't been in yet."  
  
"Very scientific of you, mind if I ask another question?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Where are we now?"  
  
Lucy paused a moment and studied the walls and floor, she walked to a corner and inspected the stone closer. The she smiled and straightened up.  
"Can't be exactly sure, but I'd say just below the kitchens, why?"  
  
"Then I'd go up if I were you."  
  
Lucy gave Diego a look. "You've been here an hour and you already know the layout?"  
  
Diego shook his head. "Hardly anything so exciting. Giraldi's started me on history of the more anciant and seldome used practices of the school. Mostly its just lecture, we can't do any of it because its hybrid, required the use of two different kinds of magic in conjunction, very unstable."  
  
"And..."  
  
"And that instability makes it dangerous, even to Adept levels. That means any work or experimenting needs to be done in a workroom, but not a normal Espiritu workroom. There are several level of protections in place to keep people from, unknowingly or purposely coming in if they don't belong there. One way of protecting the caster himself is to put the workroom at the very center of the complex. Now back home that's usually the center of a ring in one of the caves of painted on the ground outside, but here I bet its more complicated. I bet it took Asriel over a week to even find where he wanted the workroom to be. But if its here, its going to be in the exact center, or as close to it as possible, of the school."  
  
Lucy was still staring at him. Then she shook her head. "You see, as soon as I get ahead of you they send me off and you're gonna be way ahead when I get back!"  
  
Diego shrugged and grinned. "So, all we have to do is find the center."  
  
Lucy shook her head. "No, all Faustas has to do is find the center. He's got the most powerful internal compass I've ever seen. He'll be able to get us there faster than anything."  
  
And she was right. After establishing contact with Faustas and waiting for him to return to the perch in her room as to be nice and comfortable for as long as they needed him, Faustas reached out empathetically to Lucy and Diego, and was able to navigate them through corridors towards the center of Hogwarts. But he didn't know where the right corridors were, so it was still up to Lucy and Diego to keep a sharp eye out for hidden enterances and trap doors. It was two hours later when a signal from Faustas told them that they were practically standing in the right room.  
  
But it wasn't the right room. It was another hallway, much like the ones above and below it, and one Lucy remembered vaguely wandering down one day when she took a wrong turn on the way to charms. Its halls were filled with classrooms, and there was no sign of a secret workroom.  
  
"You know, when they said I could come visit you for Christmas this wasn't how I'd pictured my day." Diego groaned as he closed the door of another classroom that did not contain a magical workroom.  
  
"I know, I know, I was just so sure that together we'd find it. We're good at that, aren't we good at that?"  
  
Diego smiled and gave her a hug, "Yeah, we're good at that. But maybe this is just too hard cricket, huh? Maybe we just blew this whole thing up and there's nothing down here but a lot of dust and cranky portraits and some ugly tapestry."  
  
Lucy sighed and followed his eyes to a worn and dust covered tapestry that was hanging along the top of the ceiling. "Never noticed that one, it is pretty ugly... great good gods..."  
  
Diego was looking at it more closely too. "No way..."  
  
"Querido that's it! That has to be it, come on."  
  
With that Lucy had jumped on his shoulder and was pushing the tapestry aside. Sure enough, there was a small latch in the stone on the other side, and a few deft movements and the stone panel slid sideways back into the wall. Lucy let out a shriek and climbed onto the ledge.   
  
It was an odd shaped hole. It was barely wide enough for the two of them to stand together, but tall enough that Diego could stand up fully. It was difficult to see how far back it went, so together they made a few tentative steps.  
  
And the sliding stone panel slid back into place.  
  
"I don't like that." Diego stared at the hole where light had just started to come in.  
  
"Lumos," Lucy muttered, and began examining the wall that should pop back open, there was no release catch.  
  
"Lucy, you got some explaining to do."  
  
Lucy grimaced, "That's not the worst of out problems."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Nope. Aside from being trapped in a small stone hole, quite possibly a booby trap, several hallways and floors away from anyone and several thousand miles away from anyone that cares, with the person most likely to find us in this highly out of bounds kind of place being Snape, likely to die from asphixiation, there is something worse."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I have to go to the bathroom."  
  
"Lucy!"  
  
"I drank a lot of eggnog! It's not my fault, but I really have to go."  
  
"This isn't funny."  
  
"Call Faustas Diego, he can get us out, please!" Lucy began hopping from foot to foot and up and down.  
  
"Stop that!"  
  
"I can't help it! I feel like I'm five! I need to go!" Then, quite accidentally, Lucy jumped on Diego's foot.  
  
"Ow!" And with that, Diego began jumping up and down to. Frequently bumping to Lucy in the small space who was still doing the same.  
  
That was when the opposite wall slid open.  
  
As both of them landed and stared, it slid back.  
  
They stared at the wall, at each other, then back to the wall.  
  
"Maybe it responds to pressure, jump again!"  
  
They both began jumping frantically, and after a few moments the wall opened, only to slide back almost immediately.  
  
Diego snapped. "God damn you stupid thing just let us-"  
  
"Diego! Hover!"  
  
He turned to Lucy as if she had suddenly asked to live at Hogwarts forever.  
  
But Lucy was already a foot off the floor and trying to pull him up. "Come on!"  
  
Sighing, he obliged. No sooner had his feet left the floor than the back door slid open and stayed open.  
  
"Genius," breathed Lucy, staring at the carved oak door behind the stone slab.  
  
"Care to clue me in?"  
  
"The floor is pressure sensitive, and I bet the walls and ceiling are too. If you wanted to get into that room, you had to be in the middle of this one, you had to be able to hover. And you couldn't do it on a broomstick, not enough room for on. That means that only someone who had studied Western magic could get through this door. The man really was a genius."  
  
Without saying another word she moved through the doorway and set herself down on the floor. What met her eyes was a small, windowless, circular room. She noted with amusement that although the room was barely more than 7 feet in radius, it was a tall column, extending for what looked to be at least two stories up. Completely impractical for an ordinary earth bound wizard, but of no particular inconveinience for someone who could hover, provided they were very well conditioned. She did note what seemed to be padded benches placed here and there against the wall in higher parts, so she assumed it wasn't terribly strenuous for an Adept like Asriel to work in such a vertical manner.   
  
She and Diego immediately spread out and up, looking at notebooks, scrolls, and pieces of parchment scattered over the worktables on the curved sides of the room. The middle of the floor, as was customary, was empty, except for a circle drawn in white chalk about three feet in radius. Not knowing which spells were still active, and knowing the dangerous consequences of stepping onto someone else's active power circle, both students were careful to avoid it.   
  
Diego was busying himself with a trunk on a ledge about six feet up, but Lucy, driven by an urge she couldn't quite fathom, went straight for the ceiling. She wasn't in good enough shape to simply float all the way up, so she moved from bench to bench, climbing on chinks in the wall, until she reached what had caught her eye almost as soon as she had entered the room. There were several holes in the wall near the top, small and square in shape that seemed to extend back indefinitely. And they weren't straight. A light shone in showed that the tunnel took a turn down after several feet, and where it went from there Lucy could only guess. But she was sure something was at the end of it, and that the tunnel had been built so that they only way to access it was by fetching it through telekinesis. She closed her eyes and probed with her mind through the tunnel for something which "felt" like Espiritu, and after a few moments she had it. Carefully she pulled it towards her, following the tunnel left anf right and up and down as she felt the book held back at certain points. When she finally opened her eyes, she was holding a leather bound journal, and the writing on the front cover was in Spanish.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Diego was at her side, staring over her shoulder at the book, the Journal of Don Asriel of Espiritu, with big eyes.  
  
"Only one way to find out," Lucy took a deep breath and opened the front cover.  
  
The book promptly flew out of her hands and landed, open, directly in the middle of the circle on the floor some thirty feet below.  
  
The two looked at each other and hurtled toward the ground, pausing above the circle.  
  
"Do you think we ought to try and pick it up?" Diego eyed the book warily.  
  
Lucy shook her head. "The professor would kill both of us. You never violate the boundries of a living power circle. If that book was designed to return there once opened, it must contain information that only the creator of that circle should know, maybe it was too dangerous to be read outside the confines of the circle..."  
  
"That would be an understatement, but a well though out deduction chica. Your teacher would be proud of you."  
  
The voice came from the flickering image of a tall, broad shouldered man which had suddenly appeared in the middle of the circle, next to the book.  
  
Diego raised an eyebrow, "Don Asriel, I presume?"  
  



	14. Chapter Fourteen: Don't Kill the Messeng...

Chapter 14: Don't Kill the Messenger, Wait, He's Already Gone!  
  
The shimmering form made a small half bow, "You weren't expecting anyone else were you? You are both from Espiritu aren't you?"  
  
Lucy nodded dumbly, Diego nodded as well, but he never took his eyes off the figure, eying it with no little veiled hostility.  
  
At their response the form of don Asriel sighed. "Good, I always worried that over time others might start learning the Western Arts, and then all my carefully laid protections would have been in vain."  
  
"If you've been here all along couldn't you have just altered them?" Diego sounded annoyed, and from the look on the apparition's face, his mood did not go unnoticed.   
  
"Ah, but I wasn't here, not really. There isn't enough of the right sort of energy to keep me here for that long, and frankly, what would I do. No no, the spell that I used was a bit economical, but it served its purpose, if anyone were to touch that book, I would be summoned for a short time, enough to prevent anyone who shouldn't be looking at it from learning anything valuable."  
  
Lucy finally seemed to find her voice, "How long are you here?"  
  
Asriel shrugged, "I'm not sure to say the truth. It was so long ago and the currants under this castle have changed so much I hardly know. I would say half an hour."  
  
"Well, that's profoundly helpful." Diego commented dryly. Lucy elbowed him in the ribs, Asriel gave him a piercing look, with what appeared to be a smile curling around his lips.   
  
"You don't think much of me, do you?"  
  
Diego appeared a bit taken aback by the directness, but he set his chin and nodded. "I don't see what there is to admire in a man who's been dead 120 years and has failed to take a position as a guardian. I'm not like Lucy, she seems to think the sun rises and sets by what you say and that by finding you all our problems are magically solved. But you can't even keep yourself in a semi-physical state for more than 30 minutes, and I fail to see how that is going to help save the world, or whatever. And that's another thing, I can't see anything honorable in a trained and powerful Adept who leaves unfinished business and then places the burden of finishing that business on a half trained young girl whose been all but exiled from her school and her family to do so. It's not fair."  
  
He looked at Lucy, who was completely flabbergasted at the speech, but managed to look him square in the eye and assert, "I'm not half trained."  
  
But Asriel was smiling. "No you're not, and he knows it. But you have a point Diego, and a valid one. what Lucy has to do isn't fair. But it is no less fair than what will be asked of you and the people living at Espiritu, or what has and will continue to be demanded of people living in this community. Making things fair isn't up to me, it's up to a much higher power, and I will not be the one to call upon them," he gave a funny look towards Lucy at this point, which only Diego noticed.  
  
Asriel sighed, "The story is a bit long and not terribly entertaining, but its all in that book should you ever care to know the details. It has a great deal to do with dona Mercedes and her pestering visions, that's what got me sent here in the first place. And I have had to remain here rather than becoming a guardian because it was my job to guard the books and my workroom from unsuspecting Eastern wizards, and to wait for the arrival of two of my own who would take up the task I never finished in life."  
  
"You knew we would come?"  
  
"I didn't know who it would be, dona Mercedes foresaw it, but as with any prediction it was just one of many possible futures, so she could never see who or when it would be. What she did see was a war, a battle against some force or forces, and one that would ultimately hinge on a knowledge of hybrid magic. That meant someone had to come here and figure out how to combine these two. Why it was me I don't know, but she was most insistent, and it didn't sound so bad at the time. When I got to the actual experimenting, however, I found out rather painfully that transposing one form of magic with another is probably the most subtle and delicate process, one requiring great patience and a strong tolerance for pain. I had the basics roughly worked out at the time of my death, but they were so rough as to be practically useless in any real application."  
  
"And I'm supposed to refine this?"  
  
Asriel nodded.  
  
"Are you crazy? I don't know the first thing about how to combine magic! And I'm way out here, I've been here for months, I've probably lost any delicate sense I had back home!"  
  
Asriel shook his head. "That's what I told Mercedes. But I can tell you that work of this kind at the level you'll be focusing on is all about instinct, being in tune with the rythmn of whatever substance you're working with. That wand will help you, its composed of North American elements, it will help you find your center if you ever lose it, but you can't lose it completely. Both of you have been at Espiritu more than long enough to have it permanently tattooed on your souls and your hearts. If you've been able to feel the web, feel the attacks, you will have no problem finding your way home. Trust me, I know."  
  
Lucy looked at the floor warily, "And the circle?"  
  
"Is keyed to you, if you are who Mercedes said you would be, you'll have no problem using it."  
  
At that point the image began to flicker.  
  
"You can't go yet! You haven't told us when Lucy can go home!"  
  
"Everything you need is in this room," was all they could hear when the image finally faded to nothingness.  
  
Diego looked at Lucy, who looked as if she was about to hyperventilate. He went to touch her shoulder and she jerked away. She began pacing furiously around the room. "This is ridiculous, it's impossible, what am I supposed to do, me, not even a Master, develop an entirely new system of magic, just out of thin air? This wasn't in the plan, leaving Espiritu wasn't bad enough, going to a barbarian school wasn't enough, being forced to stay here with minimal contact with home while knowing something terrible was going on wasn't enough, how much more am I supposed to take. I just.... it's.... I can't do this, I can't..."  
  
She looked utterly and completely lost. She had let her back slide down the wall until she was sitting with her knees up in front of her, her arms hugging them to her chest, her hands on her head. It wasn't until he was silent for a few moments that he realized he had never heard that phrase 'I can't' out of Lucy before, ever.  
  
He crouched down beside her and she cast a desperate look in his direction. "There's got to be some kind of mistake... let's go home, let's go home and explain and then-"  
  
Diego held up his hand. "Lucy, you know we can't do that."  
  
"I don't want to try anymore Diego, I'm exhausted, I thought, I thought we'd find this place and Asriel would know exactly what to do, that the answer was just something he'd already discovered but never got around to reporting. I just want to go home."  
  
Diego didn't say anything but simply pulled Lucy into a hug. She clung a bit to his shoulder and buried her face into his shirt, which was soft and white and smelled like Mama Rosa. "It's too much, I'm not ready to handle this, I don't know enough..."  
  
At that he pushed her away a bit. "Now there's were you're wrong hermanita." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wooden box with turquoise overlay.  
  
Lucy stared at it. "What is that?"  
  
"You're Christmas present from Professor de La Vega and the rest of the Espiritu staff. Open it."  
  
Lucy did as she was told. Inside was a ring. It was a perfect band of black obsidian core with an overlay of lapis lazuli. Lucy smiled as she saw the pretty blue stone with colorful flecks in it, not only was it pretty but it transmutated energy for her better than any stone she had worked with. And obsidian was her best focus stone. There was no raised jewel, nothing to catch, she could have rolled it across the floor. It was designed that way, not to roll across the floor, but to blend seamlessly with its wearer. Because that's what this was, a mastery ring, a ring to focus energy and help manipulate it when doing more complex work. But she hadn't progressed that far.  
  
"Wait... he wanted you to give this to me now?"  
  
Diego nodded and grinned, "And also to pass along the news that you'll be taking your masters trials at the end of January."  
  
"I'm going home?"  
  
"They're sending someone here, several someones, in fact. When he announced he was pushing up your appointment, originally you were scheduled to take them in about 9 months; the council decided they wanted multiple opinions to deem you competent. Good luck."  
  
"He's got to be crazy, I'll never be ready in time!"  
  
"Well, apparently Faustas seems to think you're ready now, so don't worry about it."  
  
Lucy closed the box. "Easy for you to say, when do you have yours?"  
  
Diego shrugged," I won't know till the time gets closer, you know that."  
  
"I really don't need this."  
Diego sighed and squeezed her shoulder. "Just take it one thing at a time chica. You're one of the smartest people I know, and the most stubborn. Between the two you'll find a way."   
  
At that moment a small light began blinking on Diego's silver bracelet. "Damnit! That means I've got one minute- wait! here-" he took something out of his pocket and shoved it into her palm. Lucy looked down in to a long tangled strand of different colored, tiny beads. They were identical to the strand wrapped around his wrist.  
  
"Where..."  
  
"That's half my strand."  
  
Lucy shook her head, trying to give him them back. "They're yours Diego, your protections, you're mother- if she knew-"  
  
"She'd have wondered why she hadn't thought of it long ago. Listen, I can't stand not knowing and this way at least, we'll, oh just quit arguing and come here."  
  
Even as she was protesting he was grabbing her right wrist and wrapping the long strand around and around and then tying the ends together. Now her right wrist looked exactly like his.  
  
"Merry Christmas."  
  
All Lucy could do was hug him, and as she did she felt a tingling, and knew he was being pulled away. She looked up to see him giving her a sad sort of smile, and when he said "It'll be ok Luce, I promise," his words hung in the air long after he had vanished, leaving Lucy alone in the strange room, that no one else knew lay humming in the center of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.   
  



	15. Chapter Fifteen: Bumping Into Things, A ...

Chapter Fifteen: Bumping Into Things, A Lot 

Chapter Fifteen: Bumping Into Things, A Lot 

The rest of the vacation passed in a blur for Lucy. She spent every moment she could spare sneaking off to Asriel's workroom, remarkably easier now that she had found a map in one of his trunks detailing the numerous shortcuts and hidden entrances to get to that part of that obsurd hallway quickly. She had delved into his journals with a fury, trying to walk herself through the basic assumptions Asriel had made in his prepatory steps. It was confusing and frustrating, but by the end of the vacation she had made good headway, and she was cramming as much in the final free hours that she had, knowing she would go siginificantly slower once classes began again. 

This was all very frustrating for Harry. He couldn't fathom how Lucy could have been so blessedly normal Christmas morning and then suddenly revert to her mysterious Hermionesque obsession with disapeering at strange moments. There was nothing he could do about it really except pin her in the common room and trounce her in wizard chess whenever he could find her. But all in all, he had never looked forward to the resumption of classes so much, except for perhaps during his summer vacation. 

Hermione, Ron and the rest of Hogwarts returned Sunday afternoon, but the noise of the inundation of students was completely blocked out in the workroom. Lucy had no idea the school had refilled while she was lost in the intricate properties of diverting natural energies using a wand while mutating them at the same time in order to fit them in a lower energy canal. The theory might as well have been Greek, Lucy was so tired that the words began to swim in front of her eyes, and she called it quits. 

She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, but most of all she just wanted to sleep. The whole idea was ridiculous and she told herself ten times a day that she had done all she could possibly be expected to do and she should just go home. 

The other part of her was to fascinated by what she was reading about to stop. Asirel had accomplished the impossible, in theory anyway. He had combined western magic with Hogwarts magic, its was as if he had created a new class off magic all its own. But everything had to be handled so delicately, so carefully, because using energies this way was unnatural and dangerous. But Lucy realized that she was used to dealing with unnatural magic; all Hogwarts spells relied on the drawing up of magical energies and turning them into a different form of magical energy. Espiritu took natural energies and transformed them into magical energies, with which they did work. As much as she hated to admit it, until she taught someone else from Espiritu on at least the rudimentary aspects of Hogwarts style magic, she was the most qualified to be attempting this. 

None of that mattered at this point however; she was so beat she was amazed she had the energy to hover long enough to replace the seal on the door and stay off the floor of the anteroom as she exited through the tapestry. She gave in and droped the last foot to the floor, and prayed that she wouldn't have to answer any questions between this hallway and her bed. 

She wasn't so lucky. While in a dark and narrow passage that had proved to be the shortest way back to Gryffindor Tower, she had the shock of stumbling into something that was actually a someone, two someones. 

"Oy! Who's there?" 

Three voices all muttered `lumos' at the exact same time, and after the initial blinding shock, Lucy found herself face to face with the Weasley twins. 

"Lucy? What are you doing here, I thought- Fred, did you tell-" 

"Don't look at me, if anyone has had problems with keeping these a se-" 

Lucy held up her hand. "No one told me George, I found the tunnels myself." 

They both gave her a look, "What were you doing down here?" 

For some reason, Lucy decided she didn't like the idea of telling a lot of people what she was up to, and although she didn't think she had anything to fear from the twins, she decided against it anyway. She shrugged, "Well, this place isn't exactly a hub of entertaining activity during the break, I sorta went exploring a lot." 

The boys looked at each other, and she had the sneaking suspicion that they hadn't bought her story entirely, but they didn't push her any further. "Just don't- excuse me pardon me very tight space- go telling a lot of people about these, they're some of the best hiding places around. Your fast, we didn't stumble upon them till the end of second year, you really have to look to find them. Where did you say you were going?" 

Lucy wasn't falling for the trap, she tried not to yelp as Fred stepped on her toe as he followed George and squeezed past her, but all Lucy did was smile. "To bed, you two have fun." 

"Oy, Lucy, if anyone asks-" 

"I never saw you, good night!" 

She had a terrible urge to ask THEM what THEY were up to, but the call of her bed was overwhelming; although she couldn't help but listen and try to make out their conversation as they dissapeered down the opposite end of the tunnel. 

She emerged a few second later behind a painting of a sly looking wizard who winked at her before returning to his perpetual nap. Lucy grinned and rubbed her eyes and walked around the corner. 

And directly into Seamus. 

"Argh! Why can't you watch- Seamus!" Before he could react properly Lucy threw her arms around and gave him a tight squeeze. 

"It's, uh, nice to see you too Lucy…" Seamus more than a bit surprised at Lucy's behaviour, especially since Harry had reported her sulking around the castle and dissapeering at all hours. But he was enjoying the sudden display of affection, it was typical of Lucy once she relaxed, and he was starting to realize just how much he'd missed her. He gave her a hug back, lifting her off her feet for a moment before setting her back down. 

"So," they started off down the corridor towards the stairs, "Harry says you've been disappearing constantly, where have you been going?" 

Lucy looked at him and rolled her eyes. "What makes you think I'd be any more inclined to tell you than I would to tell him?" 

Seamus turned his head to the sighed and pretended to think very hard. "It's my devilish good looks, isn't it?" 

Lucy gave him an amused look and faced the Fat Lady. "Try again… flibertigibbit." 

"My charm!" He called out as he entered the portrait hole after her. 

"Definitely not!" She called back over her shoulder. 

"My, `joi de vive'?" He called after her as she crossed the common room to the girls staircase. 

"I'm sorry Mr. Finnigan, but you'll just have to wait." She was up the stairs and in her room before he could come up with a witty reply. 

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"Lucy!" 

"Hermione!" 

There was much shouting and hugging as the fifth year girls reunited, and Lucy was relieved not to be on her own anymore. "You're back, the tower lives! You have no idea how creepy this place gets when its empty, sounds you never heard before…ugh," she shuddered and fell back on her bed. 

Hermione sat down on the end. "Sorry that Hogwarts a History didn't contain anything useful, did you find anything?" 

Lucy rolled her eyes towards the others, she wasn't sure that Parvati and Lavender, sweet girls that they were, were the best secret keepers. "You have no idea." Hermione nodded, and the rest of the night was spent unpacking and eating the huge batch of double chocolate chip cookies Lavender's mother had sent back with her. 

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"So, wait, you're supposed to fulfill some sort of anciant prophecy, save Espiritu, and then what?" 

"Prophecy! Hell no-" Lucy's indignant retort was cut off by Hermione clamping her hand over her mouth. 

"Unless you want to explain what were talking about, I'd be more quiet, agreed?" Lucy nodded and Hermione removed her hand. "Ok, explain then." They settled back into the couch they were occupying the in the dark if the common room late that night. 

Lucy rolled her eyes. "There is no prophecy, Dona Mercedes was a good seer, she made pretty accurate predictions, but that's all Asriel was going on, pure faith in her. But whatever she saw, it could have been affected by about a million things that have happened since. We don't even know what's attacking Espiritu and the other schools, or if its even the same thing she thought she foresaw. Either way, this is no anciant prophecy of a stubborn hard headed girl sent to save the world… this is an old woman playing with people's lives, with the best of intentions, but its still not divine mandate. It's not a prophecy, it couldn't be, I don't believe in them anyway." 

"Don't believe in them, prophecies?" 

Lucy nodded and pulled more of the blanket around herself. "I think humanity would be a lot better off if manifest destiny and the whole lot never crept into their heads. It's a bunch of rubbish and all it leads to is bloody crusades and a lot of anger. Look at the state of most of the Native American nations right now. My nearest neighbors live in trailers and most never graduated high school. That's what prophecy will get everyone around you. And all it will do for you is get you killed. Glorious destinies, glorious funerals. You can chuck the lot." 

Hermione sighed, "It is way too late to be getting into a philosophical discussion with you. But do you honestly think that someone like Harry wasn't the fulfillment to some prophecy? Doesn't it seem like he should kill You-Know-Who?" 

Lucy leaned back against the cushions. "If there is a reason for Harry to kill Vol- sorry, You-Know-Who it would be his own personal choice; the man killed his parents, he and everyone else who's lost someone has a right to take their best shot. But that doesn't mean that because Harry didn't die he somehow owes it to humanity to take up some pre-destined role and be the saviour everyone is looking for. Lights of the Lady, he's still a kid, let him be one." 

"But what Asriel asked you to do, it's dangerous, isn't it?" 

Lucy shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, technically any kind of hybrid magic is considered extremely dangerous, but its not like I'm poking around. I have his journals, I know what I need to do, its just figuring our how that I have to discovers. And I have all the protections he built into that room. It's not like I'm charging off to right some wrong or am taking the entire weight of defending my family on my shoulders. But this stuff, it could help to defend the school and hundreds of other communities, and if it really can help, and I'm the only one here right now, it seems like a good idea to try it." 

Hermione gave her a look. "Do you really believe that?" 

Lucy looked out the window. "Not really. Half the time I'm telling myself this is stupid and I should give it up but…" she was twisting the strands of beads around her wrists and rolling them between her fingers absentmindedly, "well, what else am I supposed to think? Doing something stupid over here is still preferable to doing nothing while the gods know what is going on back home." 

"So you're going to keep this up still, even after classes start up again?" 

"I have to, I can't just dip my toe in and decide I don't like it, and it is interesting, albeit draining and exhausting. The real trick now is going to be getting in there without anyone catching me." 

"Getting in where?" A voice from the shadows made both girls jump, but neither were intimidated enough to scream. They waited while the figure of Seamus revealed himself and crossed the room from the doorway to the boys stairs to stand across the coffee table from Hermione and Lucy. 

"You didn't answer my question." 

"And I don't intend to. I don't associate with snoops Mr. Finnegan." 

"I wasn't snooping, I was spying, there's a difference. And I wouldn't have to if you would just tell me what you're up to." 

"I'm afraid its none of you're business." 

"Really?" 

Hermione could sense the tension, and excused herself. Lucy was glaring at Seamus and didn't even notice. 

"Why are you spying on me!" 

"Why won't you tell me!" 

"There's nothing to tell, how was your holiday!" 

"There's plenty to tell and it was lovely, thank you! 

"You're welcome!" 

There was an intense staring contest for about two minutes before either of them spoke. 

"Thank you for the present." 

"You're welcome." 

"It was one of my favorites." 

"Glad you like it." 

"You're not off the hook just because you gave me a thank you." 

"It's all I'm giving out right now, do you really want to fight me on this?" 

Seamus ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "No, not really, not if you don't want to tell me." 

He turned to go back upstairs and Lucy let out a frustrated growl and grabbed his wrist, yanking him down to the couch beside her. 

"Don't be a baby. I had to tell Hermione, she sees when I come home at night and she already did me a favor, so she knows something's up. If she hadn't I wouldn't have told her." 

Seamus gave her a look. "Is this dangerous?" 

"Of course not." 

"You're lying." 

"What?" 

"Come on Lucy I know you better than that. Whenever I would ask you if you'd understood the wand technique, you'd always answer `yes' right away, even if you hadn't a clue how to do it. You bite down on your lip right after too. You're making the same face now. You're an awful liar Lucy, so don't think you're fooling me." 

Lucy just stared at him, not sure of what to say. She didn't have to say anything. Seamus got up. 

"Fine, keep your secret. If Faustas is going along with this whole thing then either he agrees with it or you've found a way to over power him, and if that's the case, well then you would hardly need protection now would you?" 

He didn't give Lucy a chance to respond before marching across the room and back up the stairs to his bed. 

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	16. Chapter Sixteen: A Complete Lack of Expl...

Chapter 16: A Complete Lack of Explanations 

Chapter 16: A Complete Lack of Explanations 

It was freezing inside the castle and out. Harry and Ron were making a quick dash back to the room to grab extra scarves and sweaters for Potions, since the weather was making the dungeons even more cold and unwelcoming than usual. 

That was when they found Lucy asleep on the couch. Ron elbowed Harry in the ribs. "I knew she was missing in History of Magic!" He pointed to the prone figure across the room. 

Harry nodded, "I remember thinking it was weird she wasn't with Hermione or Lavender, but then I thought she had just dozed off or something…" 

"Looks like she did. Class was so boring she fell asleep in advance." 

"We'd better get her up, she wouldn't thank us for letting her miss Snape's class, he flay her for sure." 

Harry ran up to grab their extra clothes and Ron hurried over to the couch and shook Lucy none to gently. She didn't respond. He tried again. In the end it took both he and Harry shaking and shouting to force Lucy to open her eyes. 

And to fly immediately into a disoriented panic. 

"Where am I? What time is it? Did I miss anything?" 

Fortunately Harry saw her potions materials stacked to one side, next to the strange book she had fallen asleep reading. He pulled her to her feet, shoved them into her hands, and with him at one elbow and Ron at the other they steered her to class, filling her in on the day, time, and everything she had missed about Bridge Troll Uprisings that they had been awake to hear on the way. 

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Lucy seemed fully recovered by dinner, and although the boys meant to ask her what she had been doing, they didn't get a chance. Lucy excused herself early saying she had to study, and left the hall for the common room. 

Harry got Hermione's attention. "What's that all about?" 

Hermione just stared at him. `What's what all about?" 

"Lucy, she's like a machine. And then today she slept through History of Magic and it took a huge effort on the part of Ron and me to get her up in time for potions. And now she's gone again!" 

Hermione shrugged. "She's been like that for the past three weeks, ever since school started again. It's nothing serious, she's fine. Let her be." 

Harry and Ron exchanged a look. They knew Hermione too well not to be able to tell when she was withholding something. But from the look on her face she was not about to tell them a single thing more. 

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Lucy slept the sleep of the dead again that night. But the girls now knew that to ensure Lucy stayed awake they'd have to physically walk her down to breakfast. However, the next morning, Lucy refused to go. 

"I'm really not hungry, please, I promise I'll stay awake, just go on, I'll tell you about it later." 

No amount of cajoling would work, so the girls left Lucy, still in her pajamas, in the dormitory and went to breakfast. 

Hermione panicked when Lucy didn't show up in class forty minutes later. Thinking quickly she approached Professor Sprout and stammered, "Lucy, she um, really wasn't feeling well this morning and I think she"- to her surprise she was cut off. 

"That isn't necessary Miss Granger, the headmaster has already informed me why Miss Montero will not be in my class this morning, you don't need to protect her. Now I suggest you pay more attention or your charge is likely to bite Mr. Weasely, who seems to be the one out of sorts this morning." 

Hermione caught her plant before it nibbled on Ron's finger, slapped him to wake him up, and then silently kicked herself for not asking Professor Sprout what reason Dumbledore had given. 

She found out soon enough. When the girls returned before lunch they found Lucy sitting on the floor at the foot of her bed. Her robes were laid out, but after a second glance Hermione quickly realized those weren't Lucy's robes. They were white, but they weren't the normal linen that Lucy usually wore, Hermione wasn't sure of the material, but they were smoother and softer. The robes were the same sleeveless tunic style with slits on either side starting mid thigh, but the clasps were much more intricate. Instead of the normal leather ties of her normal robes these fastened with silver clasps, and there was white and white beadwork that trimmed every edge all the way to the floor. 

Lucy looked up when she came in and gave her a half smile. 

"Lucy, what's going on?" 

Lucy didn't get up, but rested her chin on her hands. "I threw up." 

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?" 

"I saw it, and I threw up." 

"Saw what?" 

"That!" Lucy waved her hand wildly in the direction of the bed and the clothing laid out there. 

"You threw up because of your robes?" 

"Those aren't my robes!" 

"Well, where did they come from?" 

"It's not important." 

"It's not important that several pieces of clothing just mysteriously arrive on your bed?" 

"No." 

"No yes or no no?" 

"Both." 

"Lucy! Explain!" 

Lucy sighed and got up walking around to the side of the bed staring at the clothes but not touching them. "No, the clothes aren't what is really important. Yes that the arrival of the clothes is very important." 

"Why?" 

Lucy was about to speak when Professor McGonagall knocked on the door. "Montero, its time for you to report to Professor Dumbledore's office." 

All three of the girls heads swivled towards Lucy. 

"Why are you being called to the headmaster's office!" squeaked Lavender. 

"What did you do?" 

"I'll see you guys later." Lucy followed Professor McGonagall out of the room, leaving the girls alone with the clothes. 

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Professor Dumbledore's office was empty. 

"You're to wait here," Professor McGonagall looked exceedingly uncomfortable as she pointed Lucy into the room,and relived as soon as she could shut the door. 

Lucy took a seat and stared around her, but she didn't have to wait long. 

The door opened again and a tall man with a neatly trimmed beard walked in. At first Lucy judged him to be 50, but upon closer inspection she guessed he was probably far older than that, and the energy in his walk had fooled her. 

"Stand up." 

She did. 

"Turn around." Not knowing what was going on, Lucy rotated in a circle and back. She didn't know if this was supposed to happen or if he was just toying with her. She raised her gaze to meet his, staring him straight in the face. 

"Walk over there." 

"Why?" 

The man smiled. "You'll do." 

And with that he left. As soon as he had gone a small, round little woman entered the room. 

"You may sit down now if you like dear." 

"Who was that?" 

"Who was who?" 

"The man, just a minute ago, who was here." 

The woman sighed. "What did he tell you to do." 

"He told me to stand up." 

"And then?" 

"He told me to turn around." 

"And then?" 

"He told me to walk over there?" 

"And then?" 

"Well, nothing. I asked him why and he left." 

The woman nodded. "Then he did the first part of his job, that's all you need to know. Now, Lucy Montero, was there a set of robes in your room this morning?" 

"Yes." 

"Were they white?" 

"Yes." 

"You're sure. Not off-whit,e not pale pink, not ecru, eggshell or ivory, just white?" 

"Yes." 

"Have you had any contact with your mentor besides letters in the past six weeks?" 

"No." 

"Have you had contact with any person affiliated with your institution in the last 10 days?" 

"No." 

"Are you in contact with or have contacted any spirits, guardians, or existential beings from separate planes of existence in the past month?" 

"Yes?" 

"Are you currently in contact with any?" 

"Yes." 

"Of what type are they?" 

"He's a tierra guardian." 

The woman nodded and continued. 

"Are you in good health?" 

"Yes." 

"Do you have in your possession any mirrors, rings, amulets, tokens, talismans or other objects of augmenting capabilities in your possession?" 

"Yes." 

"Which ones?" 

"A mirror, ring, and a locket." 

"Do you have any such objects on your person at this time?" 

"No." 

The woman smiled. "Very good. Now, please return to your room. You will be expected back here in one hour, and when you return bring with you the ring, locket, and mirror. You are expected to be suitably dressed, and those beads will need to be kept free of your wrists." 

Lucy looked down at Diego's strand, which was just loose enough to move back and forth a little on her arms. 

"I'd try a little tape, it usually keeps them out of the way just fine." The woman winked and opened the door for Lucy to leave. That's when Lucy remembered the question about Faustas. 

"Oh, wait, my guardian"- 

"Faustas? He's a tierra guardian, he's the last one who would ever interfere, no matter how attached he is. Any interference would put you in a dangerous situation, and that's counter to what a guardian is meant for." 

"Oh, thank you…" she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. The woman seemed to understand and gave her a sympathetic smile. 

"The lack of explanation is traditional and it does serve a purpose, you'll get the full story later. And now you'd better go get ready." 

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Everyone had gone to afternoon class, and Lucy was alone in the room. She stared at the robes on her bed. Next to the garments were about two dozen small ornate pieces, belts, clasp covers, scarves, and each had a purpose, she knew they did. She had learnt what all this was for several years ago but now she couldn't remember anything. 

Tears began to well up in her eyes as she sat on the edge of the bed, feeling very small and very alone. 

"I don't know how to put it on." 

There was a small knock on the door. 

"That's why they sent me. Hello mija." 

Standing in the door was the warm, round form of Rosa Alvarez, Diego's mother and Lucy's only maternal figure. 

She had caught Lucy up in a hug in the next second, squeezing her tightly and stroking her head. "It'll be all right, I promise mijita." 

Lucy straightened up and gestured to the bed, wiping her eyes from the crying she had been doing before Rosa arrived. 

"I don't know what all of this is." 

Rosa laughed. "No one ever does chica, that's why candidates always have people like me." 

Lucy looked up, "You? But Rosa, you, you never…" 

"Took the trials? You're right, I never went through these. Medicine candidates get run through their own set of trials; none of what you know would be of any use to me. But, someone had to make these, didn't they? When I first came to Espiritu I was 14, and my mentor also made the robes for the candidates. She taught me and my best friend Gloria and two boys the craft. We learned all about how to make them, the order in which they are put on, laid out, and what each piece is used for. Someone had to remember it all!" 

"Thank the gods, I didn't know what I was going to do." 

"I'm sure you would have thought of something, but now you don't have to. So save your energy, I'm afraid your going to need it and put on the pants and the shirt. I also suspect you were a burro and didn't eat breakfast, so you can devour the lunch I made you before you put on the rest of that while I braid your hair." 

Impulsively Lucy threw her arms around the smiling woman. "I've missed you so much." 

"We've missed you too linda." 

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Class had finished about ten minutes before Lucy had to leave, so Hermione and the girls burst into the room only to stop dead in their tracks at the sight before their eyes. 

Lucy, as always, head to toe in white, but this white was more beautiful than anything she had worn before. Over the pants and shirt and long tunic was a loose belt of white leather covered in crystal and white beadwork that tied in the middle with the end falling to her knees. There were small slits in the tunic through which Lucy could access a small pocket tied around her waist under her clothes. Her hair was in a french braid with the end turned under so it didn't hang down, secured with a simple silver comb. She looked exactly as she aways did and completely different at the same time. 

"Lucy? What are you doing?" 

"I'll explain later." 

"You always say that! She always says that! She always says that and its not until we've climbed onto the roof, or run out in the rain or something crazy like that!" 

Lucy and Rosa smiled and left the girls bewildered and slightly angered in their wake. 

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	17. Chapter Seventeen: The Longest Day

Rosa dropped her off in Dumbledore's office, which was empty again. Almost as soon as she had gone the woman from this morning entered, followed by Dumbledore himself.   
  
"Lucy Montero, may I have the objects I requested?"   
  
Lucy handed a small bag containing the ring, mirror, and locket over to the still nameless woman.   
  
"Before we proceed any further there has been a request made."   
  
"What request?"   
  
"This man here seems to want to watch."   
  
Lucy could have laughed at the woman's confusion, but she didn't.   
  
"That man is probably the most powerful Eastern wizard alive, and my headmaster, so I don't think I could refuse."   
  
Dumbledore, who hesitated a bit as if fearing the wrath of the small round faced woman, smiled at Lucy. "Actually I was asking for the benefit of all students; there's so much we never see here, I was notified that certain portions of this...test are permitted to be witnessed."   
  
"It is, however," the woman seemed perturbed that someone else was explaining the rules, "the right and final decision of the candidate if anyone not involved should be permitted to observe the final exercise."   
  
Lucy suddenly had visions of Draco Malfoy cursing her and ruining forever her chances of attaining Master or Adept status.   
  
** Oh no dear, with all the protections up to prevent any magic getting out or tampering with what we've set up, there's no way an Eastern spell could penetrate. **   
  
Lucy jumped, she had forgotten who this woman was and what she could do. She immediately tightened her shields and sent a mental note of thanks. The woman smiled.   
  
"As long as they are at enough of a distance not to interfere, I have no problem with it."   
  
"Good, now if you will turn around please for me to check you...." The small woman examined every part of Lucy's attire then straightened up.   
  
"And I will need your, er, wand please." There was a very pronounced expression of mistrust as the woman took the wand between her two fingers and handed it to Dumbledore, who smiled and tucked it into his robes.   
  
"I'm sure you can depend on your headmaster to return that to you after the trials have been completed. Now, you're second is waiting at the bottom of the main staircase, and they will lead you to where you need to go."   
  
Lucy had forgotten all about the second, something carried over from when there was only one master and therefore mastery trials required a duel, which meant a second had to be on hand to defend the duelists honor should foul play occur. She hoped hers spoke English, Professor Giraldi had said he had been dealt a Bulgarian...   
  
As she exited the office alone the warm ** And good luck dear ** was enough to raise her spirits.   
  
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There were students in the halls as Lucy made her way to the staircase, and not one would pass her by without at least taking a second glance. There was something about that robe that made people look at it, but Lucy was too keyed up to enjoy the attention. Her stomach was in knots and she nervously fussed with the spell tape that was holding Diego's beads above her wrist. When she had fixed them back in place she had reached the top of the main stairs. There was a small figure at the bottom with his back to her that she couldn't quite identify. As she descended closer the figure turned around and Lucy felt like singing.   
  
Her second was Diego.   
  
But she didn't sing, she didn't even smile. She couldn't. She didn't know by what magic her best friend had been assigned to be her second, but traditionally the second was a stranger. Hugging or even smiling at him would be inappropriate during the tests. But she felt better just knowing he was there.   
  
In a similar manned Diego made no sign that he knew her, but Lucy felt a gentle nudge of reassurance and pride as she followed him along the hall that could only have come from Diego. His strongest art was empathy, sensing and even projecting emotions, he was much better at it than she was, and he always knew when all someone needed was a little mental boost.   
  
They finally stopped in the dungeons, not far from the potions classroom, next to a tapestry of the constellations that Lucy had never noticed before. Here Diego stood aside and Lucy paused, collected herself, and knocked once on the door. She entered when bid to and Diego shut it behind her, taking up his duty as sentinel directly outside the room.   
  
Lucy continued forward into what appeared to be a deserted room with a circle of chairs in the middle. When she reached the center of the circle she stopped and waited. Out of the shadows appeared eight people, including the man and woman she had met previously. They did not sit, but rather stood, one outside the circle between her and the door, and the other outside the circle on the opposite side. The remaining six seated themselves in the chairs.   
  
And the questioning began.   
  
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Two hours later Lucy emerged from the room feeling emotionally drained. It had been two hours of relentless questioning, covering everything she had ever learned and everything which she thought had absolutely nothing to do with the trials. By the time they had finished Lucy was certain they knew everything about her, possibly more than she knew herself. But they seemed satisfied, and she was allowed to proceed.   
  
Diego still could not say anything, but she felt a touch of sympathy from him as she was led directly to her next trial, there was to be no rest in between.   
  
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It was late, but it was almost over. Since the questioning trial she had been to five other locations, but each of the successive trials involved only one judge. Some were fairly simple, her mobility trial had required an hour's worth of telekinetic tests while hovering at least four feet off the floor for the entire time so as to test two skills at a time. But some, like the last one, had been cryptic. She had stood across the table from the examiner, a tall dark woman with very short hair, who would place one object after another in front of her, with no explanations. She had known what to do with some, for example she had conversed with a small lizard for a few minutes before the examiner removed it and placed something else in front of her. The oddest had been a small ceramic urn filled with dirt. Lucy had stared at it before instinctively placing her hand in it, rubbing the dirt between her fingers. She could feel there was something to be found in it, so she continued to sift through it, but found nothing. She finally reached out her mind to probe the earth, and found that something grabbed her and latched on. She saw a green mountain, and as the landscape panned, the silhouette of Mach Piccu, and people, non-magic tourists in the distance taking pictures. But the grab had alarmed her enough that she broke contact, coming back to herself in a rush and jerking her hand away. The examiner had smiled at her, and left the room.   
  
For a moment she thought she had failed, until Diego opened the door and motioned for to her to follow him out.   
  
He had led her back to the main doors and outside into the blowing wind. It was freezing and she had noticed that someone had given him a white scarf and a coat. She knew she wasn't supposed to receive anything more than any other candidate would, and didn't question it. She followed him around the castle to a clear path of ground on the leeward side. Thank the little gods for small favors. She noticed Diego look up and followed his gaze; and she could see heads sticking out of every window on that side of the castle, she had forgotten about the little "audience." But this was also the side near Gryffindor tower, and she could make out Hermione and Ron's heads distinctly, and only assumed the messy black hair to be Harry. They waved, and she wished whole heartedly she could wave back.   
  
There was a small and frosty looking assembly gathered on the ground outside near the castle walls that included several professors, including the potions master and a skeptical Professor McGonagall, the five examiners that Lucy had already been tried by, Hagrid, and Dumbledore with a large black dog Lucy had never seen before. In front of her stood the final examiner, and to her left the man from this morning, and her right the woman. Lucy wasn't sure where to go at first, but after unfocusing her eyes she could feel more than see the large circle of energy on the ground. It was large, and at the center of it was the examiner. Lucy knew enough to know that she couldn't cross that circle so she paused at the edge. Diego broke protocal enough to squeeze her hand before stepping away to the right.   
  
**No shields, understood?** The strange voice in her head came from the examiner and Lucy sent back a wordless affirmative. Whatever was to come at her she couldn't use her shields to protect herself, that meant defense with offense. She took a deep breath, cracked her neck, moved her hands in front of her, and with a swift downward sweeping motion, dropped her shields.   
  
It was pure energy bolts first, which could easily be countered with energy bolts of the same magnitude or higher, Lucy settled with deflecting them with equal power to save energy. A split second after she deflected the attack the examiner changed tactics and sent a large solid wall of energy in her direction. Instinctively Lucy used a well placed razor of rough and jagged energy to cut a hole in that wall so that the brute force rushed passed her, but left her unharmed in the middle. What she wasn't prepared for was the immediate attack from the sides, which knocked her on her back in snow. This was not good, now she had to buy back ground she had lost before getting a chance to go forward, and it wasn't easy to work off the ground.   
  
Off the ground... Lucy grinned. It was one thing to let someone throw things at you, it was another to make them aim at you. Rather than righting herself she gathered her energy and rose three feet in the air, moving from side to side and up and down. Now sharp and targeted attacks would be less useful, since she wouldn't be there. Now she had the advantage of being able to hurl attacks from several directions, he was shielded and that meant he needed a tie to the ground, and it would take way to much energy to maintain that tie while above it. The examined was no fool, as soon as he saw the tactic he dropped his attack, and a gap appeared in the ring. Lucy moved forward into an inner ring, closer than she was to her goal, but still a long way from it.   
  
It had been three hours, and it was dark and cold. Lucy sagged as she shuffled through to that last circle separating her from her examiner, who looked as if he had just stepped out if the shower, clean and refreshed. She felt like she was about to die. She waited, warily, for the instructions that always came eith a new circle. She had been limited by movement, types of attacks, degree of attacks, time between attacks, types of shields, strengths of shields, she raised her eyes as if to meet her maker and hear her fate.   
  
**No attack, shields only, no attack until I say. Understood.**   
  
Lucy nodded, grounded and centered herself, established a strong shield and waited. Waited and watched as it was shredded to pieces and she was thrown to the ground. She erected a hasty one to combat the attack that came next, but it was just as efficiently dismantled in a shower off energy sparks visible even to the ungifted. What do I do now? Lucy had always been good at shields, but the power that was coming at her was eating through her strongest ones. She rolled away, dogging another threat, and whirled around. The examiner was between herself and the school, she could still see the students watching in the windows. I'll be in no condition to take on Harry tonight, no strength left for chess.   
  
When the idea hit her she almost forgot to dodge and winded up with another burn on her arm. That was it, she was never going to be stronger than this man, what she had to do was use the strength against him. She focused her eyes and concentrated, building a careful layer of shields and grinning with every passing second that they stayed up. The top shield didn't block the energy like a wall, it was slippery, the energy just slid right off. The examiner could have worn himself out, and Lucy would only have probably had to rebuild that shield twice in an hour. But the examiner switched tactics, made his bolts sticky, and they sliced the first shield as they slid on it. But Lucy had expected that; now that she knew what she needed to do her analytical mind was flashing through every possibility. Under the sliding shield was one that did nothing but absorb energy, it didn't stop the bolts, but fed off their energy and used that to support a solid shield underneath. As long as she kept matching the texture to the weapon, she would be all right. The examiner new it, but it he didn't stop. The standoff was going on way too long, and Lucy didn't understand how he couldn't be exhausted. Where was the energy coming from?   
  
That's when she realized what he was doing. Of course he was, he was pulling from the energy web of his school, that's what he was doing. Something he knew she couldn't do because candidates were blocked from their webs during the trials, they had to use the magic in the ground the stood on. No, no she couldn't do that this wasn't home this was Hogwarts, the currants could be wild- but as she rolled into the snow, her aching limbs striking the hard ground that had been worn down to the frozen dirt by the wind and the duel, she knew she had to; she had to tap the line. And as if he was lifting her thoughts, which he might have been, then came the command, **Drop shields and attack**.   
  
It was insane and it was crazy, but whatever he thought she would do she knew he wouldn't expect this. She bit her lip and in the next heartbeat was reaching down into the energy sink and seizing a hold of the Hogwarts natural energy lines. She hated it, every pore of her being was screaming for her to drop that alien line like a poisonous snake, but she held firm, she had to because he was rallying for what could be a finishing attack if she didn't. Instinct took over and she tapped the alien energy, incorporating it into her own reserves and almost immediately sending it back out in the form of a blinding white circlet of light, that collide in the air with a red arc from her examiner in a shower of firework-like sparks. There was no time to rest as she counter hit a smaller attack, he was rallying for another go, and she could almost swear he was grinning. But now she was armed, she was going to do this.   
  
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This was insane, all these people were insane, and they were going to kill her. Lucy looked like hell and Seamus check his watch to confirm what it had 30 seconds earlier, she had been at this particular trial for over 4 hours. He hated it, he thought the entire thing was ridiculous, this man standing in the snow fresh and clean while Lucy had been tossed around like a rag doll more times than he cared to count. He couldn't watch, and yet he couldn't tear himself away.   
  
He should have known never to underestimate Lucy. Just when he was about to scream for them to stop this she straightened up and sent what looked like a halo of pure white fire directly at the man in the center. He continued to retaliate with red arcs, and Lucy continued to send circles of fire, some blue, but mostly white. But they weren't getting anywhere, Lucy wasn't gaining ground nor was the examiner losing it, they could be out here for another 4 hours and Lucy would be dead by then. But then he saw that look, that look he had seen in the classroom right before Lucy really got something.   
  
'She has a plan,' he murmered under his breath.   
  
And in the next moment the examiner sent out a red arc, but it was small and barely distinguishable, and Lucy's brilliant white circlet but right through it, and stopped, inches from the examiner's face.   
  
And the man smiled. He dropped his arms and turned, leaving the circle and returning to the castle with the other seven mysterious strangers following in his wake.   
  
Lucy staggered forward into the circle vacated by her tormentor of the past 4 hours, and crumpled into a heap. Seamus noted somewhat absentmindedly as he turned and raced for the stairs that if not for her dark hair the white cloaked figure of her body would have been indistinguishable against the snow. 


	18. Chapter 18: Inability To Feel Because Yo...

She had done it, and all she wanted to do was go to sleep. But she couldn't, not until she crossed into the master's circle. Her feet were numb and frozen and every step was agony, but after she was in she managed to straighten up and look out. What she saw was the vague figure of a thin man in a royal blue cloak trimmed with white standing alone in the snow in the area the professors and examiners were vacating for the warmth of the castle. Diego was next to him and she smiled. Profesor de la Vega had seen her pass her final trial.  
  
The next thing she remembered was being jostled as Diego carried her along a hallway, setting her down on the floor near the entrance to Dumbledore's office. She still wasn't conscious and everything was in a kind of haze.  
  
"I have to go now Luce, I'm not allowed to stay anymore. But I want you to know that I've never been more proud of anyone in my whole life than I was of you. And I don't know if you can hear me but, Lucy, just remember that no matter what happens you can always find me." She felt in a rather detached manner a touch on her still numb arms, where Diego had removed the spell tape and allowed the beads to fall back down to her wrist.  
  
"All you have to do is look."  
  
And then she passed back out.  
  
She was roused a few minutes later by the round woman from this morning who was pulling her to her feet.  
  
"Come along dear, the hard parts are over. You don't want to do all that and miss the good part do you? Up you come, follow me dear."  
  
She wasn't given much choice, it felt odd to climb the staircase with feet that were still frozen and not quite useful yet, but the little woman pulled her along without giving her a chance for much thought.  
  
When she entered the office the other seven officials were already there, standing behind Dumbledore's desk. She looked around for the headmaster, but couldn't find him anywhere.  
  
**Oh he's not here dear, this isn't really meant for his ears. A fine, fine man, but this ceremony is always just between the candidate and the examiners.** The little woman gave her shoulder a brief squeeze, and went to stand with the others.  
  
"Lucille Gabriella Montero de Gomez of Espiritu Institute, please stand before your examiners."  
  
Lucy tried to walk as normally as possible, and stood before the desk.  
  
"You have been tried for mastery in the areas deemed necessary for an elevation in status. Judges, how stands the candidate?"  
  
One by one each of the six examiners stepped forward, Lucy held her breath, one 'fail' was all it would take.  
  
"Pass."  
  
"Pass."  
  
"Pass."  
  
"Pass."  
  
"Pass."  
  
"Pass."  
  
There was a hint of a smile around the plumb woman's lips as she nodded and continued. "The candidate has been passed uncontested in all areas."  
  
Lucy was struggling not to grin, shout, or turn cartwheels around the room, her only regret was that the professor couldn't be there.  
  
"Well, Miss Montero, come and claim your ring."  
  
She looked up, she had forgotten all about the ring. The woman had placed it on the table, and each of the six passed a hand over it, it was a sign of blessing and good will, a hold over from the time in which such a gesture would have been required to pass on the dead master's ring to a new bearer. Lucy picked it up and placed it on the middle finger of her left hand. It slid easily on and settled into place, as if she had been wearing it all her life.  
  
When she looked up the six officials had pulled down the hoods of their cloaks that had covered their heads throughout the trials, they were all smiling.  
  
Lucy gave them a quizzical look, "Is that it?"  
  
A woman with short hair nodded, "It wasn't enough? Once you've been passed our job is practically over, so there isn't any more need for the formality. Why don't you sit down dear, you look about ready to fall over."  
  
Lucy sighed with relief as someone led her to a chair near the fire and she took off the thin frozen boots, which were stiff and hard from the exposure.  
  
The little round woman pressed a mug of something hot into her cold, stiff fingers. "Mrs. Alvarez left this for you, she wanted to congratulate but she and her son had to leave, she has a few delicate patients waiting back home."  
  
At the mention of the circumstances back home Lucy suddenly realized that she was finally in the presence of people who knew something, people who hadn't ever changed her diapers and knew what a capable person she was; they had to be able to tell her something.  
  
The rest of the examiners had settled down in chairs, or on the floor. Lucy was surprised, she was so used to people sitting in chairs now, she had forgotten how most adepts at Espiritu preferred the floor anyway.  
  
"Well Lucy, typically the passed candidate is allowed a few favors, a type of reward for the pain you just went through."  
  
Lucy smiled, if she was going to go about getting information, she might as well start here. "You could all tell me your names and what schools you're from."  
  
The round woman smiled. "That was exactly what I wanted when I got passed! Only I was far too nervous to request it! I'm Maeve dear, chief examiner in charge of protocol, from the Ayers School about 200 km, east of Alice Springs."  
  
The first man she had encountered made a small sort of mock bow. "Simone, chief examiner in charge of safety, of the Constantinople Conservatory."  
  
The woman next to him snorted. "Simone refuses to call it the Istanbul Conservatory, he seems to think several centuries worth of history are simply a trifling matter. It's Anna, by the way, from Chadwick's, then from Istanbul."  
  
Lucy's face lit up, Chadwicks was a much smaller school in the forests of Maine, it taught using classes rather than mentors, through the intermediate level. Students were then fostered in the older tradition to adepts at larger schools, who guided them until they reached master status, and usually on to adept.  
  
"How long has it been since you were at Chadwick's?"  
  
Anna seemed a bit surprised, then smiled. "Not that long really. I'm not mentoring anyone from Istanbul right now, so I've spent the past few years teaching their advanced Middle Eastern Herbology course. That does sound dry doesn't it, but the medicine candidates don't seem to mind it. Have you been there?"  
  
Lucy shook her head. "Not recently, I was there several years ago. Do you by any chance know Marie DeSantis and Aislan Murphy?"  
  
Chadwicks was also the home a few of Lucy's good friends, who had spent, as all intermediate students are required, at least one semester or summer with their teacher and classmates at another institution. Marie was an American, Aislan was boarding from Ireland, and both had spent a semester at Espiritu, and usually took their time at other schools during the same times that Lucy and Diego were visiting. Diego had written her about another one of their visits several months ago; they were both medicine candidates and would probably be taking their masters trials in another three and a half years.  
  
Anna grinned. "Yes! Good lord, those two! The faces of innocent angels and all the while plotting against you! I almost had to fail them, they slept through every class! They were always very lively when they were awake, but they'd sleep through half the lecture and then blow something up in the lab that afternoon! If they didn't tie for top score on the final exam by some miracle of god they never would have passed. Tell me you don't know them."  
  
Lucy grinned, "I'm afraid I do, they often travel with Professor de La Vega and I in the summer."  
  
"Well do try to keep their influences to a minimum, it won't help you reach adept any faster. Why did you have to remind me, I get worn out just thinking about them. they are abroad this semester aren't they?"  
  
Lucy giggled and nodded, "I believe they'll be in India until the beginning of the summer."  
  
"Thank all the little gods for small favors."  
  
The rest of the examiners introduced themselves, there was a gentleman from the school at the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, a gentleman from the Institute at Bombay, a woman from the Congo Conservatory, a gentleman from Easter Island Sanctuary, and then there was the man who had been Lucy's final examiner.  
  
He grinned over his cup of tea and stood up, "Abraham Rodriguez, from Macchu Piccu."  
  
Lucy almost dropped her cup. Macchu Piccu was the center of the earth in terms of the ancient magics that were studied at this group of schools. Graduates were rare and valuable and why in the name of all that was sacred had one been needed for her masters trials?  
  
She shook her head. "I don't understand."  
  
He smiled, "Relax, just remember that its over now. You are the youngest person to attempt this since, oh, it must have been that loco Asriel , over a hundred years ago, almost two hundred. There were a lot of wagging tongues, people wanted this to be official; they didn't want a dying art to start popping out young, half trained masters to fill holes. The elders at Macchu Piccu and your mentor agreed it was a good idea. It was principally for your benefit Lucy. Yes, we wanted to make sure standards were just as rigorous, but also, if we hadn't you probably would not have been taken as seriously, and we can't afford that. This rank always has to stand for something. Mastery can't be questioned or we will revert to the old methods of people challenging each other to duels left and right, and frankly, we don't have the manpower to support that kind of waste of life. Do you understand?"  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
"Good, now listen to me. You're too young and you have an unnatural sort of dependence on your school because it has always been your home. You're stubborn, which can be good and bad, and suspicious and calculating but at the same time absolutely trusting of anything that is familiar. You should watch that, it could get you into trouble. You have no concept of taking an ordered retreat and you have an unfortunate disposition towards working yourself down to the bone to win a losing battle because you won't accept the fact that this was a battle that should never have been fought in the first place. All that said, never has a candidate so consistently surprised and impressed me as you did today. Whether or not you like it Lucy Montero, this school has been good for you, you have been forced to extend your knowledge and apply it in new ways. There's no other way you could have reconciled yourself to reaching for that power vein. To be totally honest I didn't expect anything of that sort, but when you got the idea I couldn't resist seeing if you would actually do it. And cutting my connection in the final play was perfect, you had the advangtage of access to a system you knew I would never think of in time, so after cutting me off from Macchu Piccu all you had to do was threaten one good strike to end the match. You did well, and if you knew me you'd be more than satisfied. Congratulations Lucy, and good luck."  
  
At that point he put down his mug and left the room. At his signal the other began to do the same, all except for Lucinda, the woman from the Congo, the one who had been examining Lucy by placing the objects in front of her on the table earlier that day.  
  
"You have been tried, judged, awarded, and given your strengths and weaknesses. Now I need to give you the final component of your mastery status."  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"You didn't think just because you were closeted up here you were going to get out of working were you? All new masters for the first four years are on direct call with the Masters Guild to pay them a certain amount of service within that time. You actually get off pretty light, the talent the Guild has you tapped for is hardly ever used, because it's not common. Unfortunately, this means if it ever is necessary, you are practically the only one who will be called for it."  
  
"Called for what?"  
  
"Basically you are acting as Earth Sense Intermediary, you know what earth sense is? When I made you feel the earth and you sort of got a vision?"  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
"Well that's a part of earth sense, that's the sight. The sense will allow you to experience not only the sights, sounds, feel, and smell, but also the emotions of the earth. If something went wrong and we don't have credible witnesses, by sampling farther and farther back into the earth we can see events unfold, and we would feel the contamination if evil energies were being used, the earth would sense it. In a sense your earth sample is like a videotape, you just have to rewind to the right place, watch what happens, and write it down. What is done with that information has nothing to do with you."  
  
"So all I have to do is write down what I see and sense and send it back?"  
  
Lucinda nodded. "That's important, you're placed in a rather precarious position, in terms of security. You'll know what's happened before the Guild, the school that sent the sample, the Council, anyone. You can't act on that information before reporting it to the Guild. You're just the intermediary, remember that."  
  
"If this is so important, why was I tapped?"  
  
"You're the only one that has it active and at a strong enough level to do any good if it would ever be needed. Earth sense was never common, it's an art that was originally only practiced by a few Native American Nations in North America, and Espiritu is the only school that still checks for and trains it. Most everyone else just forgets it exsists. Like I said, you're job should be pretty easy."  
  
Lucy gave the woman a measured look. "What was your job?"  
  
Lucinda grinned, "Me? I was a spy."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"The Congo is a very volatile region, the first thing students learn is heightened awareness, and then they are trained with subconscious telepathy- just sort of reaching out that sixth sense and feeling for living things nearby and judging their mental state. You never know if it's a poisonous snake or some rebel guerilla soldier around the next tree. I was very good at it, still could be if I'd practice more. So during my breaks during the years after I took my trials they sent me to different schools that are in isolated areas without much magical protection and I spied for them to alert them to danger. It was at the same time the most entertaining and most boring job I ever had. I'll say it again, you're getting off easy."  
  
Lucy grinned, "Well, most students didn't do their trials in the middle of the winter standing in two feet of snow, so I assume there's a tradeoff."  
  
Lucinda smiled and kissed her on both cheeks. "You're probably right. Hang in there dear, you have an awful lot of people back home rooting for you."  
  
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When they had all left Dumbledore entered at last, looking a little bit distressed, still accompanied by the black dog, but he covered the look when he saw Lucy.  
  
"I assume from the smiling face that congratulations are in order, Miss Montero?"  
  
Lucy grinned and nodded, and Dumbledore gave her a wide smile.  
  
"I was instructed to return these to you. And if you would be so kind, I'm a bit busy at the moment butin the future if you wouldn't mind explaining just a bit of what exactly went on here today? Those...fine people neglected to tell me very much; you're friend did take the time to advise me to congratulate you if I saw you smiling. Now if you'll excuse me."  
  
Lucy nodded and took the bag containing her things, and her wand, and moved toward the door. She couldn't help but take a second look back as she left though; there was something very wrong about that dog. 


	19. Chapter 19: Dirty Dogs and Disdainful De...

Chapter 19: Dirty Dogs and Disdainful Deliveries  
  
It was very late at night, Lucy had lost track of time during the trials, this morning seemed years away, and there were an unusual number of students in the halls. The teachers were only just now starting to force students to bed. It was a good thing tomorrow was Saturday.  
  
Lucy wanted to go to bed, but she remembered that Faustas had asked to be kept in a room during the trials, in case anyone doubted that Lucy had done it on her own. So before going to be she headed back down towards the small room near the main stairs on the first floor to make sure he had been let out.  
  
She found Harry, Ron, and Hermione first. They appeared to be waiting by the front door as other students trickled in from the light snack that had been served in the Great Hall. Hermione spotted her first.  
  
"Lucy!" Hermione ran up to and practically tackled her in a mammoth hug.  
  
"Ow! Owie Owie Ow!"  
  
"Whats the matter?"  
  
"Pins and needles! Ow Hermione thanks but my arms are just now getting the feeling back, I'll hug you later."  
  
"Sorry, how do you feel?"  
  
"Like a piece of meat that's been tenderized and frozen solid. I was just coming down to check that Faustas-"  
  
Ron cut her off. "Oh, Seamus let him out. He was around earlier, looking for you, but Dumbledore sent him back to bed, said you would be occupied for quite some time."  
  
Hermione looked from one face to the other. "Oh.. so. what are you three doing down here?"  
  
At that moment Dumbledore came down the main stairs, with the black dog at his side. "Oh Harry, there you are, so good of you to wait while I finished my business. I'm.. afraid that I'll be a bit preoccupied tonight, do you think you could take care of this fellow for me?"  
  
Harry's face lit up , and Lucy noticed Ron and Hermione grinning as well. She didn't know Dumbledore kept a dog. She wondered what its name was. well, easiest thing to do was to ask it. That should be easy compared to all she had gone through. She lowered her shields, and sent out a probing mental "touch", the mindspeakers way of saying hello-  
  
And whatever it was she touched was decidedly un-canine.  
  
And Harry was reaching for the leash.  
  
"Harru don't!" Lucy jumped toward Harry, nearly throwing him off balance and shoving him away from whatever was not a dog.  
  
"Oy! Lucy that hurt, what's the big idea?"  
  
"Lucy I think you've been working to hard."  
  
She shook her head hard and got her breath. "That!" she shouted, "Is NOT a- "  
  
And suddenly she couldn't say another word. She tried to, but her mouth had gone rigid. Hermione stood behind her, one hand still over her eyes, her wand arm still extended. Lucy had been shouting too loud to hear her mutter the words 'rigoratus totalus'; Lucy's jaw, as well as every other muscle in her body, was clenched tight. She couldn't say a word.  
  
Ron was staring at Hermione in awe. "Oh, are YOU ever gonna be in trouble."  
  
Lucy's eyes were shooting daggers already.  
  
"I. I had to," Hermione looked around and whispered, "you know what she was about to say! With all these people!"  
  
"Well, what are we going to do?"  
  
They both looked to Harry, who turned to Dumbledore. Dumbledore looked suspiciously as if he were about to burst out laughing.  
  
"Well Harry, it is your decision whether you want to explain this or not. However, I think it is safe to say that the cat, or dog in this case, is out of the bag. If you need some privacy, I suggest my office."  
  
Hermione, Ron and Harry looked at each other, they didn't really have a choice.  
  
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Hermione did her best to "float" the rigid Lucy upright on the way to Dumbledore's office as not to attract any more attention. Once they had shut the door she murmured the counter-curse and jumped behind Harry for protection.  
  
Lucy was so mad she could spit. Or at least, she would have, if every muscle in her body, the ones that had unfrozen that is, wasn't sore from the curse. She settled for standing there, glowering.  
  
"You didn't have to kill me Hermione! And THAT is NOT a dog."  
  
Harry looked a little sheepish. "I know that Lucy, we all know that."  
  
Lucy sighed and rubbed her temples.  
  
"Fine then, explain."  
  
The three looked at each other. "I think we'd better just show you."  
  
And before Lucy knew what had happened, the bug black dog was gone, and a large, man with an amused expression on his face stood before her.  
  
She couldn't say a word.  
  
"Er. Lucy, I'd like you to meet my godfather, Sirius Black. Sirius, this is-"  
  
"I know who she is Harry, Dumbledore was the one who thought while I was here I wouldn't want to miss her, err, examination. Pleased to meet you Lucy."  
  
"L-likewise Mr. Black. Now, if it isn't too rude, will someone please explain the need for a man to scamper about like a dog? And why the huge cover-up?"  
  
"It's a long story, you see, well, to put it briefly, Sirius was in jail for a crime he didn't commit, but he escaped, and WE know he's innocent, but we can't prove it. If anyone saw Sirius he'd be taken back to Azkaban."  
  
"Uh huh. Isn't a wizarding school a little bit conspicuous for a hide- out?"  
  
Sirius grinned. "It is. Which is why I don't stay here. I actually came to deliver some important news to Dumbledore, and of course, to check up on Harry."  
  
Hermione's ears perked up. "What did you have to deliver to Dumbledore?"  
  
Sirius ran a hand through his hair. "Nothing that won't be leaked to the Daily Prophet in a day or so. Death Eater rallier, some random acts of violence against Muggles, and the Death Eaters apparently attacked a Muggle Museum of World History in London."  
  
"That's all?"  
  
"That's all I'm telling you four."  
  
Hermione looked puzzled. "Why would they attack a museum? There are other buildings with more muggles in them, it doesn't make sense. unless they were looking for something." She stared at Sirius.  
  
"All right Hermione, yes, the Ministry doesn't seem to think so but several others think that the Death Eaters are looking for something, but no one knows what."  
  
"Well what did they do at the museum?"  
  
"Actually, they broke in when no one was there, but apparently the Egyptian Wing was completely ransacked, as well as the Ancient Mayan and Incan Artifacts.. and don't give me that look Hermione, honestly that's all I know about the museum attack."  
  
"But-"  
  
"And I think that's all I should say to you. Now why don't you three let me say goodbye to Harry, I ought to go before it gets light out."  
  
Begrudgingly Lucy, Ron and Hermione left the office. Outside the door, Ron wanted to wait for Harry.  
  
"Well I'm going to go sleep for three days, 'night." Lucy was almost crying she was so tired, and the walk to Gryffindor Tower seemed to take hours. When she finally reached the portrait the Fat Lady gave her a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Well you look awful."  
  
"Flibbertigibit now leave me alone."  
  
She pretended not to hear the crack about Americans made as she stumbled past and into the common room. It was mostly empty, with a few of the older students still up, too awake to attempt to sleep.  
  
"Oy! Lucy! Come here!" It was Fred and George. Lucy wanted to tell them to pipe down and go to bed like sensible people, but they were only trying to be nice. She sighed and approached the couch where the twins and Lee Jordan and Anjelina and Katie were all lounging about.  
  
"What the hell were you doing out there? It looked incredible."  
  
". do you think you could teach us how to shield Harry during matches? Sure would make it harder for the Slytherins to cheat."  
  
"Actually Fred that would be cheating."  
  
"It's actually counter-cheating Katie, since they'd have been cheating already. Anyway, so Lucy."  
  
The conversation was going in one ear and out the other. Lucy could barely stand up, let alone keep focused on who was saying what. Then she heard.  
  
"You fellows won't mind if I borrow her will you? Thanks so much."  
  
There was a hand on the small of her back, guiding her away from the couch and towards the doorway to the girls stairs. She turned to look at her rescuer.  
  
Seamus grinned back at her, "So that was the big secret huh?"  
  
"Well, most of it anyway, ugh," she looked up into the darkened staircase. In her state it appeared only slightly smaller then Mount Everest, "no more stairs! I think I'll just curl up on the sofa and- hey! Hey that was not what I meant!"  
  
But she didn't have a choice, before she knew what had happened Seamus had scooped her up and carried her up the stairs. He opened the door to her room, much to the shrieks of Parvati and Lavender, and deposited her on her bed, which Faustas was perched on.  
  
"Make sure she gets into something dry before she falls asleep again," were his final words to the girls before he shut the door, incapable of believing himself that he had just burst into the fifth year girls' dormitory. Rethinking that he skipped down the remaining stairs and whistled to himself as he went back to his room.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Lucy didn't get up for class the next morning, but Hermione didn't try and wake her. The girls brought her a plate of food from breakfast and left it next to her bed before heading to class. When they returned from lunch the food hadn't been moved, but Lucy had.  
  
"Oh no." Hermione raised her eyebrows, Lavender giggled, Parvati rolled her eyes.  
  
"Someone better go rescue her before she does something desperate."  
  
They headed off quickly for the hospital wing. When they opened the doors a very angry Lucy greeted them from one of the beds. Her lips were pursed tightly together but her eyes were blazing. A huge, virtually untouched lump of chocolate sat next to her.  
  
"Why Lucy, I thought you didn't want to go to hospital?"  
  
"I was kidnapped! It's not funny, please. she doesn't understand that the kind of energy I need to replenish is not going to be helped by eating anymore of that!" As she gestured to the huge piece of chocolate her face went nearly green at the thought. "And I don't know what they put in these sheets but they itch, I can't sleep, help a girl out here now, please!"  
  
Lavender covered her mouth to hide her giggle as Poppy Pomfrey swept in to check on her patient.  
  
"I'm really feeling much better!" Lucy said brightly for what was obviously the three thousandth time.  
  
"Tut, tut, tut, no more of that. You are not leaving that bed until you've finished all of that, now you girls really ought to let her rest."  
  
There was nothing they could do, it was almost time for class, Lucy groaned as soon as her torturer was gone.  
  
"Sorry there isn't much we can do right now Luce, but we'll think of something and come fetch you after class."  
  
"I won't last that long! She's all but started force feeding me!"  
  
"Don't be so dramatic."  
  
"Dramatic shmatic first chance I get I'm making a break for it."  
  
"Good luck!"  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
True to her word Lucy made a bolt for the door the minute Madam Pomfrey's back was turned. Knowing that the woman would probably look in Gryffindor tower first thing, Lucy knew she couldn't go back there. The only option was the one place in the castle that no one knew existed. So gathering as much energy as she could muster Lucy quickly made her way to Asriel's work room and collapsed on the first padded bench she found on the wall, about three feet above the floor. She was out before her head hit the cushin.  
  
When Harry, Ron and Hermione came back from dinner that evening, Hermione was met by a confused looking Lavender.  
  
"She's not here."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I went to visit her and Madam Pomfrey said she had dissapeered. So I thought she'd be here, but she wasn't, she's not anywhere!"  
  
Harry turned to Hermione, "Who's not anywhere?"  
  
Hermione sighed, "Lucy. She got dragged off to the hospital wing for some of Madam Pomfrey's chocolate this morning. Have you checked her usual places?"  
  
"It's too cold for her to be up on the roof, although I shouted out the window just in case, she's not in the library and it's too cold for her to be walking around outside."  
  
Hermione thought for a moment, then smiled. "I bet I know where she is. Don't worry, I'll go fetch, she probably just fell asleep."  
  
Without another word Hermione left Ron and Harry and headed back out the portrait hole.  
  
But finding Lucy's hiding spot was proving harder than she thought. Lucy had told her where it was once, in case Hermione really needed her for something, but the directions where hard to follow. She had been looking for about 45 minutes when she bumped into someone coming around the corridor.  
  
"Agh! Seamus! What are you doing here?"  
  
"Harry and Ron got worried, they said you'd gone looking for Lucy, so we split up. I remembered running into Lucy somewhere near here right after term started, figured this would be as good a place to look as any."  
  
Hermione groaned. "I know where I need to be, I just can't figure out which passage to take."  
  
"Well, if it helps, I saw her over there." Seamus pointed around the corner.  
  
"Hmmm, that sounds like what she said- Ahhh!"  
  
A figure emerged from behind a tapestry in the wall and Hermione jumped. It was only when the figure came closer that she realized it was Lucy.  
  
"You know you're terrible with directions don't you? If this had been serious I never would have been able to find you!"  
  
Lucy blushed, "Sorry Hermione, I just slept a little longer than I though I would."  
  
Hermione tossed her head, "You could at least have left a note telling us where you had gone, we're you're friends Lucy, that's the least-"  
  
"Oh yes, the friends that did so much to rescue me from that torture chamber. Let's call it even, please, I need to get back into a bed."  
  
They turned and made there way back towards Gryffindor Tower.  
  
"So where were you anyway?" Seamus asked.  
  
"Asleep in a nice quiet spot."  
  
"Where was that?"  
  
"If I told you it wouldn't be nice or quiet for long now would it?"  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Things passed quickly and quietly for the Gryffindor fifth years after that. Lucy was back in classes the next day, and a bit groggy all week, but she was behaving otherwise normally. She still disapeered, with relative frequency, but didn't miss meals or classes anymore; it seemed like she was making a concentrated effort to be more a part of things, despite the fact that her mind was occupied with events that were going on elsewhere.  
  
But things were going on in Hogwarts as well. Sirius had left for the moment, but Dumbledore seemed more and more preoccupied. The Death Eaters were becoming more active, and people were starting to go missing. The strange thing was the missing were mostly Muggles, the Death Eaters didn't seem to be targeting wizards or muggle born wizards. Owls flew back and forth regularly from the castle carrying letters from the Ministry. Ron's father's department was being over-run with requests for information on muggles that could possibly explain their sudden targeting by You-Know-Who.  
  
This was making Hermione and most of the other muggle born students anxious about their families.  
  
Lucy was stilled focused on the situation back home. She had not heard anything from Espiritu since the trials, which probably meant that the school was still being used as a basis of operations for whatever action was being taken to continue to protect natural magic based schools worldwide. But she hadn't felt a major disturbance since the trials either, and since she was a master she would have felt it more acutely, so she was fairly confidant that nothing disastrous had happened since.  
  
Which was why it was such a shock when Faustas appeared at the window one Saturday morning some three weeks later holding a piece of parchment with the seal of the Guild of Masters on it. She quickly broke the seal and opened the letter, which was brief.  
  
Lucy Montero, in accordance with the fulfillment of your duties as Master of Your Craft as bestowed upon you by this Guild you are summoned to the village of Hogsmeade immediately to collect a vessel of earth in need of analysis. This is an urgent matter requiring your immediate action. Your messenger is waiting in the Three Broomsticks.  
  
Lucy was fortunate that this was a Hogsmeade weekend anyway, she'd need to inform the Guild of the restrictions placed on students whereabouts. The note had said urgent so she grabbed her heavy white cloak and headed for the village.  
  
True to the letter a man in white was waiting just inside the door of the Three Broomsticks with a somber expression on his face. He ushered Lucy to a table in the corner and placed a large urn on the table.  
  
"This morning," he began with no introduction, "a visit was made to the Joshua Tree Community in California on the western coast of the United States. The community was found desolate and abandoned. The buidings were in dissaray, as if the people had been packing quickly and left in a rush. There has been no communication from them, and no one has seen them. There was no hint of a problem or distress, the visitor was going to stay with her family for a few days and had no reason to suspect that something was wrong. The earth in that urn is from Joshua Tree. Take it, analyze it, seal your report and give it to me. Leave that urn with no one else, it's a chain of possession of evidence, that must only pass from me to you and then back to myself. Do you understand?"  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
"Very well, take that back with you, you'll want to be somewhere comfortable, but remember this is an urgent matter. I'll be waiting here."  
  
Lucy nodded, picked up the urn, and left.  
  
Back in Hogwarts she sat cossed legged on her bed with the urn in front of her and the curtains pulled. She took a deep breath, took off the cover, and gently brushed her fingers over the soil. It felt normal.  
  
Reaching out with her inner senses she reached further down into the urn-  
  
And nearly threw up. Something, something had.. had contaminated, poisoned the earth at that point in time. She wanted to retch, but she collected herself and started again. She suppressed the urge to pull back and reached deeper down into the earth until suddenly, the pollution was gone, and the earth felt normal again. She had reached far enough back in time to before whatever had happened that changed the earth had happened. Then she stopped trying to push back and let time run its course.  
  
As she closed her eyes and slowed her breathing she saw Joshua Tree. It was a small community bordering the Joshua Tree State Park, in fact there were very few students at Joshua tree, it was mostly a residential community, an easy place for younger couples to settle down, and for older people to retire. There were a few mentor student pairs there, but they usually spent more time traveling then studying at home anyway.  
  
As she watched all seemed normal, people came and went, she was having trouble understanding how all this could just suddenly be gone.  
  
And then something happened. She didn't understand what, but the earth felt too, quiet. She had heard the saying silence is deafening, but this wasn't silence, compared to before it sounded, well, muted, as if something was missing that she hadn't known was there to begin with.  
  
She watched and waited. And then, she heard it. Screaming. The sounds of doors being knocked down and things breaking. She was straining to see, stretching her sight throughout the village, but everything was hazy. She couldn't tell if this was because magic was being done or that the earth couldn't handle the pain. She saw, figures, hooded and black, on the roof, in the rooms, searching, throwing things aside. But she couldn't find the people. She could hear them, but she couldn't see them. Then, there they were, the small community was clustered together in the old mission, and the building was surrounded by more figures in black. She could hear a baby crying, and shouting. The figures raised their wands as one, and all of a sudden t he noise stopped. There was no sound anymore. The inside of the mission was empty, and the ring of black figures resumed searching the grounds. Then one by one they dissapeered.  
  
Lucy jerked herself out of the trance and nearly threw the urn against the wall. She didn't understand- she stopped herself. She wasn't supposed to understand. She was supposed to see and repeat, not analyze. She grabbed quill and parchment and rapidly wrote down everything she had seen and felt. When it was finished she dribbled the sealing wax over the edge and pressed the imprint of her masters ring into the seal. It left no physical depression in the wax, but any properly trained master would be able to tell her signature imprint from the magical residue left behind.  
  
She looked out the window, she couldn't believe it was still light outside, she felt as if she had been in California for ever. She grabbed her cloak and the urn and hurried back to the Three Broomsticks, eager to be rid of the earth in that vessel. 


	20. Chapter 20: Flying the Friendly Skies

She didn't hear anything more about Joshua Tree. And it wasn't her place to inquire. Classes went on and she tried to put the events far out of her mind. Besides, there was still Quidditch to be played and Gryffindor was looking to be in good standing for the Quidditch Cup. So it was with a relatively light heart that she, Hermione and Ron made their way to the field to watch Harry and the Gryffindors take on Ravenclaw.  
  
"I hope wind isn't a problem," Hermione wrapped her muffler a little tighter.  
  
"I hope Harry doesn't see Cho and fall off his broom" Ron muttered.  
  
Hermione gave him a sharp elbow in the ribs as they burrowed their way to the front. Seamus was already there with the rest of the fifth years and it was a tight squeeze.  
  
"Any word yet?" Seamus didn't turn from squinting up as Harry and the rest of the team flew out over the field. Lucy had told him about her job for the guild, she didn't have much choice, Seamus had an annoying knack of knowing when she was dodging a question.  
  
"No," she shook her head and continued to follow the forms of the Angelina and Katie, co-captains this year, "but I really wasn't expecting one. I'm a first year master, they'd hardly bother to inform me how my information is being used."  
  
"Well they did force you to experience all that.. that pain."  
  
"It didn't hurt really, it was more of a sadness, and a sickness, and as soon as I finished it passed. They were right, this really was a pretty easy assignment. Damn, Harry does look a little distracted out there."  
  
Seamus knew a change of subject when he heard one, and he and Lucy rejoined the conversation on the Quidditch season with the rest of the Gryffindors. The dialogue was interrupted when Faustas pulled out of a sharp dive to land on Lucy's outstreatched arm. With much flapping and adjusting, he managed to settle himself on the padded jerkin Lucy hastily attached around her shoulder. By the time she was settled she was so mussed it looked as if Faustas had landed in her hair.  
  
She pretended to be annoyed and scratched him under his chin.  
  
**Comfortable, I hope?**  
  
Faustas closed his eyes in contentment.  
  
**Very, thank you.**  
  
**A little more warning next time, if you please.**  
  
**I couldn't help it, that stupid little gold fluttery thing was following me. It's incredibly annoying, not to mention the last thing I want is one of those near-sighted buffoons clobbering me with their flying sticks. Racing brooms are unnatural, human beings were never meant to go that fast.**  
  
**Aw, you're just jealous because you've found something faster than you are.**  
  
She heard what could only be described as a mental snort.  
  
**Hardly. They are ugly and ungainly. I hope you never take this up.**  
  
**Actually, I'm rather fond of it, it looks exciting.**  
  
Another snort.  
  
**You would be. I supposed it can't be helped, what with your parents and all.**  
  
Lucy rolled her eyes and scratched under his chin again.  
  
**Maybe, but I hardly think this would have appealed to them, there's only so far you can get on a broom.**  
  
At the thought of her parents Lucy reached up to finger the pin on her cloak.  
  
Only to find that it was gone.  
  
As best she could with Faustas on her shoulder she scanned the ground, turning around and around, looking under peoples feet throughout the stands.  
  
Then she leaned over the edge. That was it. The only place it could have gone was down.  
  
**Madre de dios, Faustas! Can't you do anything right!**  
  
**What did I do now?**  
  
**You knocked the pin off! It must have gone over the rail and I'll never find it now!**  
  
**Are you sure you put it on? Last time you thought you lost it, it was in a basket in your room.**  
  
"I'm positive! Now get off my shoulder so I can get a better look!"  
  
Several pairs of Gryffindor eyes shot towards her, and Lucy realized she'd just yelled out loud to no one. Fortunately, Harry made a dive for the snitch at that moment. The Firebolt outstripped Cho's broom, but not by much, and Harry got the Snitch, but not without a great deal of rubbing up against the Ravenclaw seeker.  
  
"I wonder if he planned that?" Ron wondered aloud. But the rest of the house was up and cheering and no one was around to notice.  
  
As the stands emptied, Lucy was still on her hands and knees, looking to see if the pin had fallen on the floor. When she raised her head, Seamus and Hermione were standing over her.  
  
"I knew she hadn't left yet. We almost went back without you, what are you doing?"  
  
Lucy sighed and straightened up. "I dropped something, and its either here, or it went over the railing and is down on the field somewhere."  
  
Seamus squinted towards the sun. "It'll be dark soon, if you're going to find it you'd better go down and look now."  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Hermione, Seamus and Lucy were on the ground beneath the Gryffindor stands. Lucy was crawling on her knees and looking through the grass. When she was about beyond all hope her fingers met something hard and flat.  
  
"Found it!" She got to her feet, dusting herself off, examining her robes. "Thank the little gods these things don't get grass stains. Come one, lets go!" She put the pin in her pocket and led a bewildered Seamus and Hermione back to the castle for dinner.  
  
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Lucy had detention that night for forgetting herself in potions that day and "floating" some extra tallow weed from the pile next to Malfoy's cauldron towards her. She had been startled when Neville's cauldron started to pop and jump about, broke concentration, and the tallow accidentally dropped into Goyle's mixture, which had been at a delicate point. The entire contents blew up and out, soaking Malfoy, Crabbe, and the unfortunate Goyle. Although there really was no way to prove she had done it, Lucy was an easy scapegoat anyway for Draco, and the tell tale smile she hadn't been able to suppress hadn't helped her. So she found herself on her knees, cleaning the floor of the potions room, again.  
  
She didn't mind it that much. She'd done her share of scrubbing back home, she wasn't a stranger to the work. And Faustas had come down with her, much to Snape's dissaproval, to keep her company. Snape had been called away for an urgent meeting with Dumbledore, so for the moment she had the dungeon to herself.  
  
"Ugh, all right, I don't even know what this lump is, Faustas?"  
  
**What do you expect me to do about it mija?**  
  
"Well can you tell me if I'm going to grow a third head it I touch it?"  
  
Faustas alighted and probed the lump with a talon.  
  
**It's melted chocolate chica, perfectly safe.**  
  
"Ewwww. You know you would think from all the times I've done this the floor would be clean already."  
  
**If you want my honest opinion, lindita, some of these spills are too fresh. I say the good potions master has created the mess for you.**  
  
Lucy growled, "I really need to learn to just go with the flow."  
  
"Probably wouldn't hurt."  
  
The voice came from behind her, Seamus was standing in the doorway. Lucy grinned back, but raised her eyebrows. "Snape finds you down here and you'll probably end up scrubbing right along with me."  
  
"Well, Snape and McGonagall are closeted with Dumbledore and will probably be there for a long time from the looks on their faces. Since when does Snape personally oversee detentions anyway?"  
  
Lucy shrugged, "Since Filtch would have made me do something useful that wouldn't keep me in the dungeons and because he personally takes offense to everything that I am." She kept her voice as flippant as possible, but Seamus could hear the hurt under the words.  
  
"What did he say?" His face had clouded now and Lucy could sense his anger. She sat back on her haunches.  
  
"Nothing surprising really. That I am an ill-mannered half trained arrogant barbarian who doesn't belong here and will never be accepted by any respectable part of wizarding society."  
  
"He said that?"  
  
"Not in those precise words and not to me, he and professor McGonagall were talking in here a bit after she dropped me off for my detention. They thought I couldn't hear them."  
  
"McGonagall doesn't think that way does she? She's head of Gryffindor!"  
  
"I don't know. She doesn't like Faustas, she didn't want to let me keep him when I first got here. And ever since the trials, she's acted strange, cagey, as if she thought I was going to hurt her just by looking at her."  
  
"That's crazy."  
  
"Well that's what I do isn't it? It's not just here either, Seamus. More and more I wish I hadn't conceded to the final trial being public. Dumbledore thought it would promote more understanding, but there was a whole group of Hufflepuff first years that froze and then ran away when they saw me the other day."  
  
"Lucy, the Hufflepuff first years run away from Neville, it's not a personal thing, they are afraid of everyone."  
  
"I don't like people being afraid of me. Well, no, I wish Draco Malfoy would be frightened enough to shut his trap, but not anyone else. It's creepy."  
  
"They'll get used to it. A few more weeks between them and the trials and another good Quidditch match and they'll have forgotton all about it." He shivered. "Blimey its cold down her."  
  
Lucy shrugged and using her brush hand pointed toward the desk next to him. "I brought my cloak, took it off when I realized it would just get in the way when I was down on the floor."  
  
"Thanks," Seamus reached for the white cloak, then he noticed something on the front, right under the collar."  
  
"Is this what you were so worried about finding?"  
  
Lucy nodded. Seamus laughed. "Lucy, not that I have much experience with Muggle travel, but from what I've heard, aren't these fairly common?" He tossed it down to Lucy.  
  
Lucy smiled and caught it. What Seamus was referring to was a thin plastic pin in the shape of two wings, with the emblem of SwissAir in the middle. They were the same kind of wings any Muggle child who rode on an airplane for the first time received when they went up to visit the cockpit.  
  
"You're point?"  
  
"Wouldn't it have been easier to have gotten another one?"  
  
Lucy smiled and turned the pin over in her hand, playing with as she had all her life. "Well, this one was from my parents."  
  
Seamus paused, never in all of their conversations had Lucy ever mentioned her parents before. She had put the pin back on the desk near the forgotten cloak and gone back to scrubbing when he finally asked the question.  
  
"So, where are you're parents. Do they live at Espititu as well?"  
  
Lucy paused for a moment, thinking about the easiest way to say this. Blunt, was all her brain could come up with.  
  
"No, they don't live with me at school. Actually, they died a long time ago Seamus."  
  
You idiot, why didn't you think about that before you asked?  
  
"I- I'm really sorry Lucy. I-"  
  
Lucy held up a hand. "Seamus, honestly its all right. I wasn't even a year old, I don't remember anything, and I've had a long time to sort everything out."  
  
"I know, yeah you're right, its just that, well, you know Harry-"  
  
"I had it a lot easier than Harry. My parents weren't murdered by a dark lord, and what's more important, I had the- the most wonderful family I could have hoped for to take care of me. Profesor de La Vega found me and really, Espiritu was a wonderful place to grow up. I always knew I was loved there."  
  
She meant it too. When Lucy spoke of her parents there wasn't the haunted look that Harry sometimes had when he looked at his picture album, or like he had right after he'd seen them again last year. This was a girl who had lost her parents and had coped with loss, for she had never been without some parental protection.  
  
"Lucy, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but just so I don't unknowingly bring up something really uncomfortable later, do you mind if I ask-"  
  
"How they died?" Lucy smiled at his awakwardness. She shook her head. "It doesn't really bother me. Like I said, it's nothing very violent or disturbing. They were both pilots. They met while working for TWA, and after some cut backs they met again when flying for British Airways. They started flying the Concord then. They flew for SwissAir a little after that. I was born about a year after they got married, and then they started flying private planes, they had a really good reputation for taking care of bad fliers, people who were scared and that sort of thing. They had really smooth take offs and landings. They used to fly pilot and co- pilot, always together, but after I was born they never flew on the same plane. It was usually someone home with me and someone working. I was like, 10 months old or something, it was a little after my mother came back from her maternity leave, and they got an offer they couldn't refuse. This small private company had an emergency, needed them to fly to London and back. Normally they would have refused but with a new baby money was tight and the company was offering a lot. So they did it. The flight to London was fine, they dropped off their passenger and picked up new ones. But the plane crashed in the middle of the Atlantic. Engine failure, I think it was. No survivors. Almost immediately after that I was in the custody of the professor."  
  
Seamus looked at the pin he had been toying with. "So these were your parents' wings?"  
  
Lucy actually laughed. "No, no, the pilots have a much nicer pair that they wear on their uniforms. I think the airline sent me a set of my parents', they might be in a box in storage, I never saw them. No, this is the plain plastic kind. I was a big roller and since for some reason they were always around my mother would use them to keep me all swaddled up, she'd pin my blanket using it."  
  
"So, I don't really keep them around to remember my parents, I have a small trunk full of their stuff in storage back home, and an album. No, I guess these are just something I've had all my life and didn't feel like giving up. I usually wear them pinned on the inside of the cloak, its supposed to keep them from falling off." She gave Faustas a pointed look.  
  
Seamus handed the pin back to her and she ran her thumb over the familiar bumps in the surface before pocketing it and going back to her scrubbing while Seamus switched topics and filled her in on the party upstairs for the Quidditch team; the one where Fred and George had celebrated by slipping several Canary Cremes into the mix. 


	21. Chapter 21: Unexpected Guests

The next weekend was the third weekend in February, and a much anticipated trip into Hogsmeade was planned. Lucy hadn't really go in for the Hogsmeade outings, not having much pocket money, like most students, being the first reason, and because most of the strange magical artifacts in that town she wanted nothing to do with, was the second. But Lavender and Parvati had pleaded with her, they were going to pick out new dress robes and wanted a second opinion. Lucy relented but vowed she wasn't staying long, some of those stores gave her the creeps.  
  
It was two hours later when the girls finally settled on their decision. Lucy decided she would meet up with Hermione at the Three Broomsticks while Parvati and Lavender went to buy candy. It was as she was exiting the robe shop that Faustas came winging in and she barely had time to throw up her arm for him to land on.  
  
"What on earth-"  
  
**Mijita don't talk. Something's happened."  
  
**What? Where?**  
  
**There's been an attack on Chadwicks.**  
  
Lucy's heart skipped three beats. Chadwicks, this was mad..  
  
**Tell me everything.**  
  
**We don't know much. The entire building and part of the forest that surrounds it burned to the ground. The locals think it was a forest fire, they don't know there was a building there.**  
  
Lucy gulped. **Survivors?"  
  
She could hear the sorrow in Faustas' mind. **They didn't find anyone. No bodies, they were gone.**  
  
**You think they were kidnapped?**  
  
**I think most likely their enemy left nothing behind is all.**  
  
In ways this was more horrible than the Joshua Tree incident, Chadwicks was a school, and their first year students were generally around 8 years old.  
  
Lucy's head jerked up. **Why didn't I feel anything? The web didn't give any indication-**  
  
**It didn't tell any of us. They think this happened three days ago. It was only discovered when a teacher returned from Istanbul yesterday to find the building had been razed to the ground.**  
  
Anna, Lucy thought. **How did you find out?**  
  
**I was contacting a . er, collegue at Macchu Piccu, he assumed someone had notified you and let it slip in a casual comment about how awful this latest tragedy was. I had to ask him what he meant by latest tragedy, we really need to work on your information network mijita.**  
  
**Indeed. Do you need to go?**  
  
**I should be back late tonight. Try to stay out of trouble.**  
  
Lucy gave him a scratch and launched him skyward. She made her way to the Three Broomsticks, now more than ever she needed to sit down.  
  
But sitting down was not in the cards. Standing in front of the establishment, staring shamelessly at the Hogwarts students and Hogsmeade inhabitants going in and out were two forms in matching scarlet cloaks, satchels at their feet. Their hoods were pulled down to reveal one with pixie cut blond hair, and another with long black curls. How on earth did they get here so fast?  
  
Lucy tried to look composed and approached the two tall girls.  
  
"Aren't you two in the wrong side of town?"  
  
Marie and Aislan turned, recognized her, and enveloped her in an enourmous hug.  
  
"How did you get here?"  
  
Marie smiled, though her eyes and Aislan's were both red-rimmed. "We were on our way to Seville for mid-semester break. We just took a different plane out of Zurich, you know we don't gate anywhere like some barbarous heaten."  
  
Aislan nodded, but her face became serious. "We really need to talk to you Lucy, but, um, can it please not be here?"  
  
Lucy grinned, she could tell this place made them as uncomfortable as it made her. She looked at the sky, it was going to be dark soon. She couldn't leave them to spend the night here, they had no wizard money anyway. But how in the name of dios was she going to get them into the castle without attracting attention?  
  
That's when a large BANG followed by hearty laughter erupted down the street. Fred and George were standing next to a rather bemused Hufflepuff Lucy didn't know who had suddenly sprouted a tail and furry ears to match. That gave Lucy an idea.  
  
"Stay here," she motioned to the girls. "Just don't touch anything and you should be safe, I'll be right back."  
  
She trotted after the two red heads. "Oi, Fred, George, wait!"  
  
The two turned, still chuckleing and let her catch up.  
  
"How can we be of service Luce?"  
  
Lucy got right to the point in a low voice. "Are there any ways to sneak someone into the castle without anyone seeing?"  
  
The boys stopped laughing and looked at each other and back to her.  
  
"Um, Lucy, maybe we haven't been the best influence, what would you want to know that for?"  
  
"Oh come on! There has to be a tunnel or something, right? Just tell me where the entrance is and where it comes out in the castle. I mean, if anyone knew it would be you two, right?"  
  
The boys looked pleased, but it was obvious they had reservations about letting their secret passage become too common knowledge.  
  
Lucy sighed, she needed to work fast.  
  
"Would it be of any consideration if I told you that this involved those two charming creatures standing over there?" Lucy pointed out Aislan and Marie, who were both very attractive girls.  
  
The boys noticed all right.  
  
"So what are you saying Montero?"  
  
"Give me the location of the entrance and you'll get names and addresses, and perhaps the opportunity to escort them out."  
  
The boys looked at each other and grinned.  
  
"In the cellar in Honeydukes." they began.  
  
Lucy returned to the girls a few minutes later.  
  
"All right, come with me."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Per Fred and George's instructions, Lucy was able to sneak the girls into the castle with few problems. There was really only one place she could put them once inside. She couldn't take them to Gryffindor Tower, there were too many people around. And even though Dumbledore was pretty tolerant, in the wake of Voldemort's return she was sure he wouldn't appreciate her bringing strangers into the school. That lefy Asriel's workroom as the only place to safely hide the girls.  
  
"So, you're telling me this was made by an Espiritu Adept?" Marie gazed up and slowly turned around to take the whole room in as she and Aislan shed their cloaks.  
  
"Yep, and the weirdest Adept you'll ever meet, I assure you. But no one, I don't think even Dumbledore, knows this room exists, and I've kept it that way. Hermione knows relatively where it is, but not everything."  
  
"Still, its kinda a like a little bit of your home school in Hogwarts, you can feel it."  
  
That's when Marie's eyes started to fill with tears, and Lucy turned from where she had been bent, looking in a trunk for some blankets. She got to her feet.  
  
"Oh, God, Marie, Aislan, I'm so sorry."  
  
In the next instant she had both girls in her arms, smoothing back their hair as they finally let loose the tears of mourning for their classmates and teachers.  
  
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Lucy left them an hour or so later so she wouldn't be missed at dinner. And it seemed to Hermione that Lucy was eating an awful lot, that is she kept piling things on her plate, but Hermione never seemed to see her eat it all. Hermione didn't get a chance to ask her about it though, Lavender was too busy telling everyone about her new outfit.  
  
Lucy actually didn't eat anything. As soon as she had filled her satchel she excused herself and made her way back through the secret tunnels and passages to the girls.  
  
"Mmmmm, and you say they get elves to do this for them?"  
  
"This is something I can definitely get used to."  
  
Lucy grinned from where she sat crossed legged on a bench across the room. From the way the other two had dived into their food she would guess they hadn't eaten much in the past few days. She hated to remind them of what was going on but there were things she needed to know.  
  
"Won't they be looking for you?"  
  
Aislan nodded. "They wouldn't have missed us till today, Seville was supposed to notify the Bombay Conservatory when we arrived. But considering."  
  
"Did you tell anyone you were changing you're plans?"  
  
Marie shrugged. "It was kind of an impulsive decision. We found out on the plane, and we decided here was the first place we needed to go, for a couple of reasons."  
  
Lucy looked up.  
  
"And those were?"  
  
"Well first off we just needed to see a friendly face, someone from home. And second." she turned to Aislan.  
  
"Well, we were hoping you could help us with something."  
  
Lucy waited, knowing they would go on.  
  
"Well, they're going to have to have you do a reading, no one knows what went on. We were sort of hoping you could tell us what you saw."  
  
Lucy sucked in her breath. Before anyone else, was probably what they meant to tack onto that. Tell them what had happened to their school, their friends, before she gave it to the Guild. They were asking her to do what she had sworn she wouldn't.  
  
"You guys know that whatever I see is just going to be published by the Guild anyway, I mean, you could just get the official version."  
  
Marie nodded. "I guess, I guess what we were saying is we didn't want to hear what happened to them all from some strange official or a press release. We wanted to hear it from you."  
  
It was such a sad and brutally honest statement that Lucy couldn't say anything for a full minute. It was at that minute that she realized that the people she had once met at Chadwicks were never coming back. There was no Chadwicks, Aislan, and Marie, and Anna along with whomever else was out of the country were all that was left. All they had was a deep longing for the complete truth of what had happened. It wasn't as if the Guild would lie to them, but if they felt it necessary they would withhold details. And an impersonal letter was hardly how you wanted to learn about your loved ones final moments.  
  
Lucy sighed. If she did tell them it would mean breaking her contract with the Guild. And it was dangerous.. She remembered the warning she'd received along with the assignment. Don't act on anything. Just write it down, write it down and send it off and try to forget it.  
  
She knew she wasn't going to forget Chadwicks, while she'd never been to Joshua Tree, she had been there, and it wouldn't fade from her mind. But what would it do to Marie and Aislan? The last thing she wanted was to feed them information that would lead to some crusade that would get them hurt or killed. She had Faustas to look after her, they didn't have anyone anymore.  
  
She took a deep breath and shook her head. Even if it means they'll hate me, I can't risk it.  
  
"I can't do that, I'm so sorry. You know I have to write it all down and send it back to the Guild. I can't tell anyone or act on the information." It sounded so heartlessly logical.  
  
Marie nodded slowly. Aislan did as well.  
  
"You know I'd do anything for you two, but the Guild, they'd never permit it. And we don't know what I might be seeing-"  
  
Marie held up her hand. "It's ok Lucy, really. I think deep down we knew you wouldn't do it, but we could hope."  
  
They sat in silence for a while, and Lucy began to feel drowsy. Damn, she had no idea what time it was, she was going to have to sneak back. She groaned and lowered to the floor.  
  
"Listen, there are blankets in this trunk here, and pillows, I have a feeling Asriel slept in here a lot. These lower ones should be big enough to sleep on safely. Stay in here, I'm gonna see about having someone pick you up tomorrow. How did you get into Hogsmeade by the way?"  
  
"Well, the entrance was pretty easy to find with The Sight. Followed someone into the ally. And then, floo powder." Aislan shuddered. "That stuff is creepy."  
  
Lucy nodded in agreement, remember her previous experience. "Well, I'm gonna get someone to take you back in a more civilized manner. I'll see you before breakfast.  
  
Lucy had to double back around the long way, Mrs. Norris was prowling along the usual corridor she used. When she finally got back to the safety of the common room she had a strong desire to fall into bed, but she reminded herself that tomorrow was Sunday and she could sleep in. She sighed, went to her trunk, and pulled out a large mirror. She shut the curtains on her bed and summoned up the best sound sealing charm she could managed. They'd learnt them last month, it wasn't entirely soundproof, but if she spoke softly, it should be ok.  
  
She murmured the familiar Quechua words and concentrated on the Academy at Seville. It was late, but there were a lot of graduate students there who wouldn't be in bed for hours. She waited patiently, and then the fog cleared.  
  
She was looking at a young man of about 23, with olive skin, blue eyes, and wavy black hair. He looked a little surprised to see her.  
  
"Nombre?"  
  
"Lucy Montero de Espiritu, estoy estudiando en Hogwarts en inglaterra." She informed the sentry that she was from Espiritu and studying at Hogwarts, in England. The boy nodded.  
  
"English then?"  
  
Lucy shrugged, "Whatever's easiest I'm fluent in both."  
  
The boy nodded. "Well, I'm from the States myself, it's Thomas by the way, and it wouldn't hurt to hear a bit of English, you're business Lucy Montero?"  
  
"I have some information that someone in there probably needs."  
  
Thomas raised his eyebrows. "Really? And just what might this information be?"  
  
"Were you expecting any visitors today?"  
  
"Hang on, let me check," His head dissapeered from view as he bent over to read the log book that was probably right in front of the mirror. The courtyard he was standing in was probably also the gate entry point for the Acadamy, and a record of people coming and going should have been nearby. Soon her returned with the book in one hand.  
  
"You must mean Murphy and DeSantis? They were supposed to be in today, I think everyone figured they'd made for the states instead, what with everything. he trailed off uncomfortably.  
  
"Well actually, they didn't. They're here, being held incredibly illegally in a workroom in my school."  
  
"Really? I wouldn't blame them, I wouldn't want to go back too soon either, from what I've heard."  
  
Lucy's ears picked up. "What have you heard?"  
  
Thomas shrugged. "It's still mostly rumor and speculation. The building's gone, can't hide that. There was a shot of the area on the news, but they're camera just showed the building's site as another patch of scarred earth. No survivors, not that they've found. The remnants are starting to trickle in, and they're not done if you're friends are any indication."  
  
"The remnant?"  
  
"You know, people who were abroad. The whole second year class was in Italy, about eight of them, with a professor, there was one third year who'd gone home due to an illness, three fifth years in the Yucatan, two sixth years on sebatical with a professor in Japan, you're two girls, 15 so they're eigth year, a sophmore in Paraguay and three seniors who were taking they're three first formers on a trip into the city for a few days. Along with three enstranged faculty that's." he paused adding it up in his head.  
  
"26." Lucy said in toneless voice. Madre de dios, that was it. There were probably more students in one class in Hogwarts and that was including the professors. 21 students.  
  
Thomas brought her back to reality. "So, um, do they need anything?"  
  
Lucy nodded. "They need a way back. They can't get her on the train I took, and I don't think they're in any condition to attempt British wizard traveling again. ever. I can barely keep them out of sight, so I really need someone to-"  
  
"Pick them up?" Thomas grinned. "They'll need to be gated right? They haven't learned apparating yet and don't the Eastern Councils restrict it until they graduate? Wouldn't want them breaking any more laws."  
  
Lucy nodded with relief. "So someone can come get them?"  
  
Thomas nodded. "Of course, of course, I mean, they are responsibility, but its common courtesy. You don't leave two school girls, I don't care how capable, stranded in that world, its not safe. That place is creepy. Why are you there again?"  
  
Lucy shrugged. "I only wish I knew. And they're not so bad once you get used to it. Just, don't eat any of the candy. In fact, tell whomever picks them up not to eat anything."  
  
"Well, as it happens I'm on duty again tomorrow, so it will probably be me."  
  
"Well, then I ought to tell you. You can't gate into Hogwarts. And I really don't trust the portkeys around here. Your best bet is to get a fix on this beacon, and gate about two miles to the west. You can then walk into the town of Hogsmeade. I'll send someone to lead you. Its close and I can get them there without getting another detention."  
  
"This, Hogsmeade, is it crawling with barborous foreign wizards?"  
  
"Teaming with them. Just stand in the street wearing the Seville cloak and they should find you. Oh, and don't touch anything."  
  
Thomas grinned. "All right, and who is my contact?"  
  
"My guardian, Faustas."  
  
"Guardian, like a tierra guardian?"  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
"Wow. It'll be an honor I've never met one, I actualt thought they were just a myth." Lucy swore he was blushing.  
  
"Is there anything else interesting going on back there, I'm pretty isolated out here."  
  
Thomas gave her an understanding smile. "I once spent the summer in a Siberian conservatory. My meditation was perfect, but I was still going crazy for lack of news. Besides the Chadwicks tragedy, nothing really. They had someone analyze the soil from Joshua Tree, but they don't know who did it. Maybe this incident will have a few more clues. There was a memorial a few weeks ago. Let's see, I think they just realized an old manuscript written by one of the scholars at the Cairo school under Seti the First was stolen from some museum. That's about it."  
  
Lucy grinned. "That was better than Christmas."  
  
"Geez, they really keep you isolated out there don't they?"  
  
Lucy shrugged. "Not their fault really, but, um yeah, I don't get out much."  
  
Thomas got a thoughtful look on his face. "Tell ya what, me and my buddy Alejandro have this post every night about this time, and we know most of the other graduates who got stuck with it. Now, technically these mirrors are reserved for official Academy business, but they're never all in use at once. Anything happens, I'll let you know right away. And if you ever want to catch up on you're gossip, give me a summons, they all know me so whomever is there if it isn't me can probably find me."  
  
"You don't have to do that."  
  
"Hey, frankly, I think you kinda got a raw deal. Plus, no one here knows didly squat about that magical world you've infiltrated. It'll keep sentry duty from putting me to sleep. Deal?"  
  
Lucy grinned. "You bet."  
  
"Great. Then I'll be in Horsehead, Hogshead-"  
  
"Hogsmeade," Lucy corrected.  
  
"What time?"  
  
"I want to try and slip them out early, but not before we're allowed out. They'll be there at 10, hopefully."  
  
"Can do."  
  
"Oh, and if they are accompanied by a pair of red heads who never stop talking, do not, I repeat, do not eat, touch, or inhale anything they offer you. In fact, try to maintain a good ten foot distance."  
  
Thomas looked at her as if she had grown horns.  
  
"I'll explain next time."  
  
"Deal, buenas noches senorita."  
  
"Gracias."  
  
Lucy saw Thomas wave his hand in a circle as she did hers, severing the link and returning the mirror to its normal state. She sighed, took off the sound spell, placed the mirror on top of the trunk, and fell back on her bed and into a deep sleep. 


	22. Chapter 22: Onwards, Ever Striving Onwar...

Lucy talked with Faustas before going down to rouse the girls the next morning. She told him about her deal with Thomas. Faustas agreed, although privately he knew he could get Lucy any information she really needed, he thought it would be good for her to have a regular connection to where she came from. He was always connected, but then again, he wasn't exactly mortal, he hadn't quite realized how cut off Lucy felt.  
  
What it came to was that it was going to take a week to gather the remnant of the school together, and to clear away the debris. Even using magically enhanced methods, it was going to take a while. And that was just the structure. Lucy didn't even want to think about how long it was going to take the land to be rid of the trace, especially if it was anything like what she had felt at Joshua Tree. But on Saturday morning there was going to be a memorial service.  
  
**Can I go?**  
  
Faustas bobbed his head. **From what I gather, I haven't been able to reach the professor, but I can't imagine he would object under the circumstances, and it is not as if you are going home. If you can get your nice young friend to gate you to Seville you can travel back with one of the returning professors. The Guild will probably want you to take your reading then too, so be ready. And no longer than the weekend chica, there will be no uncertain terms stating that you are back in Hogwarts by Sunday afternoon.**  
  
Lucy nodded. "I'd better go get Fred and George.""  
  
The Weasley twins were more than willing to escort Aislan and Marie back to Hogsmeade. Lucy warned them to be gentlemen and behave themselves.  
  
"My dear Miss Montero we will be the very picture of breeding and decorum." Fred's impression of a noble gentleman would have been almost perfect if he hadn't looked up and waggled his eyebrows before kissing her hand.  
  
"Just get them there in one piece."  
  
As for the girls, they had already said their goodbyes when they met the twins in the tunnel. Lucy would be seeing them soon anyways, and she passed them a note to give to Thomas asking about a courier service to Seville Friday evening.  
  
She left them in Fred and George's capable if less than honorable hands and made her way to, of all places, the library.  
  
Something Thomas had said last night had struck a chord. Where had she heard about a theft?  
  
She spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon looking through the old copies of the Daily Prophet in stock. She was about to leave when she found what she was looking for. It was a lower level story with a smaller headline, but it was what she was looking for. "Death Eater's Spotted Harrasing Local Muggles in Downtown Lodon." It detailed the theft Sirius Black had spoken of, that he had hinted would be in the paper soon. She scanned the article and finally found the link between Sirius and Thomas.  
  
It read: "In addition to vandalizing the entire Egyptian and Ancient Sumarian Wing, local muggle papers have reported the theft of an ancient Egyptian artifcat dating back to 1370 BC, a set of bournd papyrie completed during the rule of Amenhotep III, the ninth king of the 18th dynasty, whose rule over Egypt's New Kingdom was marked by unprecedented wealth, cultural creativity, internal strength, and prominence in the ancient world. Although highly prized by muggles for its historical value, the ministry as of now has no idea why such an artifact would have been taken."  
  
Lucy copied down the information before closing the book and dragging herself upstairs to finish her transfiguaration essay.  
  
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The week passed in a blur. Lucy hadn't used much of her weekend time for schoolwork, so she was up plate finishing assignments due before the weekend. In a way it was better. The busier she kept herself, the less time she had to think about. anything. She didn't realize until Thursday that she hadn't told anyone what had happened. But she wasn't really in the mood for a long explaination. She told Hermione and the girls briefly Friday afternoon that she needed at home at Dumbledore had given her permission to go, which was the truth, but didn't tell them more than that. She was not going to cry here.  
  
True to his word, Thomas was there to take her home. However, because Dumbledore had sanctioned the outing, he had to come to the castle, since Lucy wasn't sure how she would explain getting to Hogsmeade without going out the "traditional" entrance. They walked into Hogsmeade in silence, in the days that had followed more details had surfaced about Chadwicks, like how there had been a record number of first years that term, 25, but only three were alive, how he didn't realize until yesterday that he had known and babysat for a junior and her sixth year sister several times during winter breaks home.  
  
So it was in silence that they walked through and out of Hogsmeade. Down the road a half a mile and Thomas felt the restrictions lift. He found a copse of trees, raised his hands in the air, and with The Sight Lucy could see him deftly winding spirals of light. They rose up from the ground at the roots of the trees and grew upwards, forming an arch with the tree trunks at the post. It was always easier to gate with an existing form, free gates were harder. The threads became thicker and stronger, until a solid glowing arch faced them. Then Thomas's eyes closed as he reached out for a familiar place, and in the archway Lucy could see the courtyard in Seville, when it was locked, he opened his eyes, clear and bright.  
  
"Not bad," he said more to himself than to her. "For a gate anyway. Go ahead."  
  
Lucy stepped through, and felt the disorientating feeling of being in a clothes dryer. She felt energy drained from her and then replaced in a rush, typical of the violent place between the gates. Then all of a sudden she was gone, standing on a limestone floor facing a fountain in the shape of a lion, with water pouring out of his mouth into one of four tiny canals that ran out from the center of the courtyard and merged with a larger one which ran all around the square courtyard. She stepped aside quickly as Thomas came through. He turned and with a deft and experienced downward turn of his wrist he released the gate. The energies flowed back into the ground and Thomas was already replacing the energy spent with that of the Seville resevoir.  
  
Lucy sat down on a bench and Thomas sat next to her, still a little bit tired. "Haven't had to do that in years, twice in a week is probably stretching it."  
  
"Well, thanks. I really wanted to be there."  
  
"You're a good friend."  
  
"This isn't real, is it?"  
  
"'Fraid so Lucy. Doesn't seem real does it?"  
  
"Not for us. This isn't us. Who are these people and what do they want with us? How did we get involved?"  
  
"You're really asking the wrong guy here, I mean, I grew up in Louisiana."  
  
Lucy shook her head and sighed. Truth was she didn't know what she was going to do when she got to Chadwicks. It was almost as if it had never happened, it still wasn't real to her. Thomas sensed what she was feeling, he'd had a brief spell of it after saying goodbye to the girls he'd ferried over. He put an arm around Lucy's shoulder, squeezing her a little bit.  
  
"You'll be fine petite. We all will be eventually. Were a tough sort."  
  
Lucy nodded. At that moment a tall woman with curly blond hair in a French braid, and wearing a scarlet cloak with the Chadwicks seal on it, walked into the courtyard. She saw Lucy in her distinctive Espiritu white traveling leathers and gave her a sad smile.  
  
"Miss Montero?"  
  
Lucy rose.  
  
"I'm Helen, Helen Mendolson."  
  
Lucy shook the woman's hand. "It's a pleasure."  
  
Thomas indicated the archway at the other end of the courtyard. "Everything's ready professor Mendolson."  
  
Helen nodded. "Well, I suppose we'd better be going shouldn't we?"  
  
She formed a gate swiftly and neatly. Thomas gave Lucy a small squeeze on the had before she crossed over.  
  
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It was a snowt Saturday morning and Lucy was assembled in a remote corner of the forest in Maine. She was in no way alone. She sat in the front row, the lone representative of Espiritu Institute, flanked by the reps from Macchu Piccu and Cairo. Along with the reps from almost every other school, she faced a pitifully small assemblege in scarlet, the remnant of the once prominent and respected Chadwicks School for Gifted Young Women. She could see Marie and Aislan in the second row, tissues in their hands.  
  
In addition to delegates and students, the head of the Peruvian Council from Maccu Piccu was there, as well as the head of the American sub- Council. The memorial had been brief, mostly a few words from one of the senior girls and a few prayers from the head of the local Huron community, chief John Baylor, which had been closely tied to both Chadwicks and it's sister school Porters, an all male institution on the Canada border. After the final prayer, one of the Porters boys produced a flute and the entire assembly stood. Of the delegates on her side, Lucy and a woman from Bombay were the only ones who knew the words, but it didn't really matter. The entire assembly of surviving Chadwicks students was singing clearly enough to be heard in a local gas station across the forest.  
  
Onward, ever striving onward,  
  
Proudly on our brooms we fly.  
  
Straight and true above the treetops,  
  
Shadows on the moonlit sky.  
  
Ne'er a day will pass before us,  
  
When we have not tried our best,  
  
Kept our cauldrons bubbling nicely,  
  
Cast our spells with zest.  
  
It was the Chadwicks school song, Marie and Aislan were prone to singing it whenever they went on long walks or hikes. As Lucy watched the knot of scarlet, the faces of the three frightened and confused first years, and the agonizing pain in the older students she felt very close to tears. But there seemed to be a great surge of hope within the group. As they began the second part of the song, Lucy could see sad but proud expressions on the faces of the students.  
  
Fearless witches, never flinching,  
  
Through the dark and dismal night,  
  
Wolves and ghosts and nightmare monsters run away in fright.  
  
When they reached the last verse, Lucy could see the difference. There was something about the anthem that made the girls stand a little straighter,  
  
We are the girls with skills in sorcery,  
  
When in flight quite a sight to see.  
  
We are witches and proud to be,  
  
Learning our craft at Chadwicks Academy.  
  
They were down, but not defeated.  
  
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Fire, lots of it, everywhere. The heat was nearly unbearable, and it would have to be, Chadwicks walls wouldn't burn at normal temperatures, that meant this must be magical fire of some sort, hotter. The smoke burnt her eyes and made her want to gag, it was as if the air was full of gaseous acid. She could feel the earth screaming as it soaked down into the soil. Or were those the screams of the girls. High screams, children's screams, the sound of a teacher, herding them, ushering them to the level below ground. Why below? Where were they going? That's when she saw the first stranger, he reached out to grab a small girl, a straggler rushing to find her classmates- but he was struck by another figure in black. "Not that one you fool, too young, doesn't know anything! Help in the attic." Strange how the fire didn't affect them. What was in the attic. In a second she was there, in the old, furnished and polished attic library that was two stories under the eaves and ran the full length of the house. Sprialing staircases gave acces to volumes. the figures in black were clustered in one section, she couldn't make out which, and an overwhelming force from the earth told her to go down, now.. She complied, ascending to the lowest level, it was cooler down here and she followed the noise to a large stone room, directly under the school. "Don't be scared dears." A small woman with grayish hair was standing near an arch, around her she could see some older students carrying the bodies of several others, smaller girls, an older girl slumped between two of her yearmates.. "There has to be another way" someone was saying, an adult, near her, "There isn't. We try to leave and they'll kill us at best, the gods know what they would do if they want us alive, and the gates have been severed.." "Why haven't they come here yet?" "I don't know. they're looking for something, this is our only chance. Now please, a brave face for the girls."Something was wrong, the gate that was being built, it wasn't showing anything. The old woman had stepped away, but it was showing a blackish swirling void. no, it wasn't possible, that was, no. "Now remember what we told you. Older students please remind your younger charges. Juntas siempre, alma y cuerpo, Juntos siempre, alma y cuerpo." The girls began to chant. "Chain please," the girls joined hands until there was a continuos ring connecting every person in the room, including the dead and the wounded. The chant continued, juntos siempre, alma y cuerpo, 'together always, body and spirit', it was a spell that had developed at Espiritu, hence the Spanish but they couldn't be using it, they couldn't be taking the students there. As if to answer her question the teacher closest to the gate stepped though, pulling the next student along behind. The chanting grew softer as more and more were pulled into the void, until finally the old woman herself went through, the gate collapsing after her with the loss of its source.  
  
She stood back and watched it burn. Watched the black figures leave one by one, the last released a fist and the structure collapsed. Then he too disapeered and she was alone with the smoking pile of rubble and a terrible ache in her heart.  
  
Lucy had thrown up three times before she had been able to get far enough back in time to see what happened. And when she came out of it she had been dry heaving, since her stomach was empty. She curled up, there in the charred ashes and burnt out embers of the grounds where she had taken her reading, too shocked by what she had seen to cry or scream. She felt the heat still, felt hot and feverish even though the fire was gone. Gone, along with all of those students into- they'd never believe her. She wanted to go home, to be with her family and her school. But that wasn't possible she reminded herself. She sat up, cleaned the ash from her hands, and wrote her report right there, eager to be away.  
  
Her one consolation had been that when Marie and Aislan had seen her face and the hell she'd been through they didn't press her to relive it. They gave her a hug and she followed numbly a stranger who lightly tapped her mind, found a vision of the forest outside Hogsmeade, and opened a gate for her since she had no energy left to build her own. He sent her through with a silent kiss on the forehead and gentle push on her lower back. Lucy's feet led her home, she didn't remember walking. Faustas found her and led her along, alerting Hagrid who wisely said nothing but walked her up to the castle and opened the door. She heard something about not worrying about checking in and just going to sleep. It was the afternoon but she walked oblivious to students. She found her bed and crawled into it without ever realizing she wasn't still in America.  
  
Lucy had returned early Sunday morning, and she slept the entire day through. When she woke up it was late at night. The girls were asleep but they had left a plate of food on top of the trunk at the end of her bed. A warming spell kept the food as fresh as if it had just appeared on the plate.  
  
She took the dish and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, dragging herself down to the common room to eat without waking anyone.  
  
She curled up in a chair by the window, staring out at the moon and eating the food without really tasting it. She hated this helpless feeling, knowing what happened, watching it happen, and not being able to stop it. She supposed there was supposed to be solace in that the girls not killed in the initial attack could still be alive. gods, there was another issue. If they had gone where she thought they had gone, and they couldn't have gone anywhere else, they had gone to the void between the gates. It was supposed to be impossible. After all, the very nature that the void was between the gates meant you weren't supposed to be able to make a gate to it. The expanse she had stared at must have been a half formed gate. Lucy hadn't heard much more than runor about what existed between, but it was a volatile, unstable expanse of nothingness. And whats more, you couldn't gate out of it. That meant that it the group was still alive they would be unable to return. Not unless someone found them. And locating even a large group of people in a space that was theoretically as large as the universe.. it was impossible. They would just waste away in there, providing that the headmistress had been able to keep them together and they were sheltered somewhere. Lucy had hated physics, but apparently there were stable places in the void, if you could fight against the powerful currant that ran through it.  
  
Thinking about it was making her head hurt, but it was better than remembering the looks on the girls faces as they had placed flowers and pictures on the large rough hewn rock in the middle of the memorial garden. The garden itself was ghostly. Chadwicks had been built around and on top of a stone structure of six pillars connected by a stone ring around the top. The rough hewn stone the that the girls had placed their flowers on had been used as a sort of alter back before Chadwicks was a school for younger students. It had been used almost exclusively for trials in recent years.  
  
As Lucy saw the service and the faces over in her head she couldn't help but see the faces that weren't there. The face of the girls she'd seen in the underground room, the ones that weren't coming back. And then, without knowing where they'd come from or where they'd been, tears began to roll down her face. For once she didn't try to stop them or slow them, she just let them come. But they didn't stop, they came faster and soon Lucy was trying to hold back the choking sobs that shook her shoulders. It was a fruitless attempt. She wrapped herself up in her sorrow and her blanket and sunk into the chair.  
  
"Lucy?"  
  
She jerked her head up to see Harry standing in front of her, very confused.  
  
"Lucy, what is it? Are you ok?"  
  
She couldn't manage a more intelligible sentence between sobs than, "They're.gone."  
  
Harry had never been more bewildered in his life. Of all the girls he could think of, Lucy just wasn't the crying type. Something awful must have happened, but seeing the state she was in, he wasn't going to press her for any details. All he could do was sit in a nearby chair and wait.  
  
Lucy had been crying for a good amount of time before Harry arrived, and there is only so much crying a body can physically endure. Soon she calmed down. Her breathing was still erratic and her shoulders shook a little, but it wasn't with those awful gut wrenching sobs that had drawn Harry down to investigate in the first place. Silently he handed her his handkerchief.  
  
Lucy looked at it and cracked a small smile. She blew her nose and wiped her eyes, then readjusted the blanket and looked at Harry.  
  
"So what are you doing up?" As if he couldn't have asked her the same question.  
  
Harry pondered how much he should tell her, well, she knows about Snuffles.  
  
"My scar was hurting and it woke me up. That was when I heard someone crying."  
  
"Oh, does it do that often?"  
  
"Every now and then."  
  
"Do you know what it means?"  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
It was the truth, a limited version, but the truth. Harry didn't want to tell her he had been woken up by a nightmare vision of Lord Voldemort that had left his scar burning.  
  
He looked at the clock. "Well I'd better get back to bed. Are you gonna be ok now?"  
  
Lucy nodded. Harry said goodnight and went back to his bed, thinking that, with the exception of Hermione, Lucy was the strangest girl he had ever met.  
  
  
  
***All right, this is me talking. I'm not really one for disclaimers or any of that, I mean, if someone wants to sue me I have a stack of college loans THIS BIG that they are welcome too. But I felt the need to add here that the lyrics to the Chadwicks School Song are not my own. Anyone who has seen the television series The Worst Witch can vouch that these are the lyrics to the Cackel's Academy School song. I substituted Chadwicks for obvious reasons because I loved the middle part of that song and felt it was appropriate. Thanks to those of you that review by the way, although I do feel a bit like the poor country cousin with only 15. Will someone explain how a story can have, like, hundreds of reviews? Is this a conspiracy or something? Oh well, hope whomever you are that you are enjoying reading it, it's a lot of fun to write.*** 


	23. Chapter 23: The Day The Music Died

Chapter Twenty Three: The Day The Music Died

Chadwicks was always in the back, and often times the front, of Lucy's mind for the next week.  Harry, as she had expected, had told Hermione and Ron about the night in the common room.  She didn't mind, and it would have been pointless to try and keep a secret from between the three of them anyway.  She was distracted, and she didn't like it.  It was hard enough to stay on top of work when she could focus.  Now it was twice as difficult.  

She found out from a talk with Thomas on Wednesday that the Guild had released a report based on her reading.  It was accurate, which wasn't surprising, she never expected the Guild to lie, although there was a postscript added on that stated the Guild still did not have conformation that the school had escaped into the void between the gates.  Regrettably, all missing students and teachers were being considered dead until further evidence would merit the highly dangerous action of attempting to bring them out. 

The decision not to investigate didn't bother Lucy.  It was, she could tell, done in the best interests of the Guild and the survivors.  Better that Maria and Aislan mourn the loss with the rest of the remnant than get their hopes up for a rescue that would probably never be attempted.

The Guild had also not come up with a motive yet for the attack.  Chadwicks did not hold anything of material value, it was a school.  There was a large library but it didn't contain anything that could not be found in any other respectable institution.  The fact that the strangers had been in the library puzzled Lucy, and she found herself going over and over it in her head.  What were they doing there?  What were they looking for?  Marie and Aislan had answered her letter, but neither they nor their classmates could recall anything of importance being kept there.  Thomas had promised to look into it, Anna was going to be in Seville in a few days, getting the seniors settled in there.  They had decided it would be better if they finished their studies that year, with a Chawicks alum at Seville filling in as acting mentor for the last few months.  

"So you really think they were looking for something?"  Thomas still wasn't certain the raids had been about thievery.

Lucy nodded.  "Did you read any of the Chronicles after the Joshua Tree attack?"  Thomas shook his head.  Lucy sighed.  "They had the obituary for a Carlos Esperanza, a retired American History professor from UCLA.  His area of special interest had been the history of the southwest, he'd written books for it, some published for the general population and some on the history of magic in the southwest, obviously only published by the Guilds for the benefit of the magical community.  He collected rare manuscripts and restored them, and after retirement he continued it as a hobby.  By the time he died Sr. Esperanza had one of the largest and by far the rarest collection of manuscripts of any private citizen in North America."

"And you think the people who ransacked Joshua Tree were looking for them?"

"Found them.  When the Guild of Maintainers got to the Esperanza's there wasn't so much as a trace of Carlos's life's work.  Whoever it was found what they were looking for."

"Then why not steal it in a more subtle way?  Why ransack the whole community?"

"Maybe they didn't know who had it, just that the manuscripts were somewhere in Joshua Tree?  And who says they didn't want the residents as well?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's nothing really, something I heard during the raid at Chadwicks, I think they wanted people, and I think they wanted them alive.  The headmistress thought so too, and  Madeline Alabaster was known to be a strong Seer.  Why else would she have taken them…"  

Thomas sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  "Well Sherlock, I'll keep your eyes open, and you watch your back."

"Why do you say that?"

"Isn't it pretty obvious that whomever is doing this isn't an Western mage?  I mean, the stuff you saw, we just aren't taught that stuff!  Have you been? Because I sure as hell haven't, and I've been at Master status for years.  And if it's not us, I don't know who it is, but I'm guessing they live closer to you than they do to me.  You're on your own there petite, so try and keep a low profile, and keep in touch ok?"

Lucy had promised, but what Thomas had said had shaken her a bit.  He was right, if it wasn't people from within the Circle of Western Mages, then who was it?  

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She didn't have to wait too long to find out.

Harry had dutifully written Sirius about his scar right after it happened, but he hadn't been expecting a personal visit from his godfather as a response.  But sure enough, when he answered Hagrid's invitation for supper, somewhat warily, he was greeted by Sirius sitting at the table.  Hagrid had excused himself and Harry greeted Sirius with a hug.

"You didn't have to come you know?  I only wrote you because you made me promise and Hermione wouldn't let me forget that."

Sirius chuckled, "Good girl that Hermione.  No, Harry, given the state of things I wanted to talk to you myself to get the whole story."

"Why?  What's going on?"

Sirius shrugged.  "That's what's bothering me.  See, the Death Eaters have been about as active as usual, nothing more or less than what they have been doing all year, even a little but milder.  But from what Remus and I have seen, nothing that would merit that scar of yours to react.  Now I haven't heard what Sna- er, others have been collecting, but the stories just don't seem to match."

"You mean you're bothered that nothing catastrophic has happened?"

"I'm worried that you're scar is hurting, which usually means something catastrophic is going to happen, and there is no visible corresponding event."

"I see your point."

"Now Harry, honestly, has it hurt any time before that you haven't told me about?"

Harry thought for a moment.  "Yeah, I think it was two weeks or so ago, the Wednesday before the last Hogsmeade weekend."  

"That's it?"

Harry nodded.  "That's it Sirius.  I think that's probably why I wrote you this time, since it happened so close.  They weren't particularly strong, like it was far away, so I didn't feel like I really needed to report it that first time."

Sirius nodded.  The discussion moved on to Quidditch and such before Sirius got a thoughtful look on his face and asked about Lucy.

"So how is the strange girl who couldn't work her wand this fall?"

Harry grinned.  "She's coming along all right I guess.  Hermione knows her better than me, really.  Once Seamus taught her the basics she was a lot better.  Snape absolutely hates her though.  Both he and McGonagall have certain views about Western Magic.  They don't think much of it."

Sirius raised his eyebrows, but did not seem surprised.  "What do you think of it?"

Harry shrugged.  "I guess its great for if you really want to be in tune with plants or whatever, but frankly I'd rather be able to defend myself."

Sirius chuckled.  "I knew one of them once, a Western Mage, he was actually working for the ministry at the time, funny Egyptian fellow, but pretty good natured.  He tried to explain to me what it was he did.  I guess for them, at the older schools anyway, its kind of a calling.  Its not as if you're accepted and then you decided to go, this is just something he HAS to do, he couldn't walk away from it if he wanted to."

Harry though about that while Sirius went on talking.  "Although I have to admit I agree with you on the second point.  I don't see how much could be done to defend with that magic, although Lucy seemed to do it pretty well during, whatever it was she was doing.  Don't know how that would hold up against one of the unforgivable curses though."

"Lucy's had some pretty bad news from home you know."

"Really?"

"Hermione tried to get the story out of her but she doesn't seem to want to talk about it.  But I found her one night in the common room absolutely hysterical about something.  All she said was 'they're gone'.  She'd been away that  weekend and only just got back that afternoon.  Not even Seamus can work the story out of her and he knows her better than anyone."

"How's that?"

Harry shrugged.  "I guess because Seamus was the only one who wasn't afraid to teach her."

Sirius smiled inwardly, that would be an interesting thing to watch develop.  Similarly he was curious to see if that Weasley chap had admitted he was nuts for Hermione Granger yet, but since he didn't know how Harry stood on that point, he kept it to himself.  Instead he changed the conversation to a summary of Buckbeak's exploits and Lucy wasn't mentioned for the rest of the visit.

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"I hate him."

"Lucy, everyone hate him."

"But I hate him on a deeper level.  I hate him on principle."

Seamus rolled his eyes and squeezed Lucy's shoulder.  It had been a particularly horrid potions lesson.  Lucy had managed to get through without a detention, but not without several stinging remarks from Snape.  The potions  master had been giving Lucy a strange look throughout class that she couldn't make out.  At one point it almost looked like Snape pitied her, but then he came around with a stinging remark about how Lucy probably couldn't tell the difference between a gram and a pound.

"One stupid mistake involving the metric system and I am marked for life."

"He does it to everyone Lucy, it's not personal."

Lucy shuddered.  "He was creepy today Seamus."

"Snape is creepy every day."

"But today he was muy creepy.  Creepisimo.  He kept giving me these looks."  
  


"Maybe he has a crush on you."  
  


"So not funny."

"Don't let him get to you, he hates everyone that's not in Slytherin and Harry most of all.  He just tortures the rest of us to mix it up."

"I want to know why he was looking at me like that."

"Oh, so you want to go back down into the dungeons and confront him alone?  Because I sure as hell am not going back there today."

"No!  I just, never mind.  If you had seen the look you would know what I mean."

"It's the same look- flibbertigibbit- that he gives everyone.  You don't have to be special all the time Montero.  I'm sure I've gotten the look three thousand times myself."

They entered the common room and Lucy dropped onto the sofa.  It was remarkably empty right now, but then, class had run over and dinner was soon.  

"If you had gotten this look then you would have known how incredibly, incredibly creepy it was.  This isn't just run of the mill creep, this is intense-"

"OK, can we please stop talking about Snape?  Class is over."

"And yet, the creepiness lives on."

"Stop it!"

Lucy was about to make another retort when she heard a sharp ringing in her ear.  She looked around, confused, but there was just Seamus sitting across from her grinning and waiting for her to fire back, that grin fading at the strange look she was giving him.

"OK Luce, now THAT is creep-"

Suddenly she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her and she doubled over in pain.  The ringing in her ears proceeded to roar and she couldn't even hear Seamus calling her name.  Her wrist began to burn, she looked down and saw Diego's beads, and knew whatever this was he was feeling too.  She tried to breath but she couldn't, finding breath finally in huge choking gulps only to have it taken away again.  She felt like she was suffocating and the ringing in her head became louder.  She couldn't breath and her vision started to blur, darkening.  She lost conciousness, the last sound she heard was Faustas' cry somewhere off in the distance.

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"LUCY!  Lucy!  Help!  Somebody?"  Seamus looked around frantically, Lucy's limp body in his arms, he had caught her before she hit her head on the table.  People came pouring out of the dormitories to see the commotion.  Hermione rushed over, Ron Lavender not far behind.  Harry was sitting down on the stairs to the dormitories, a hand on his forehead.

"What happened?"

"She just, stopped breathing."

Hermione put her ear to Lucy's chest, the girl wasn't breathing.

A minute seemed like an hour, and then, Professor McGonagall burst into the room.  "Where is she?"

She saw Lucy on the sofa and pulled out her wand.  "Nexus Disulvos!"  She knelt next to Lucy and listened, slow, shaky breathing could be heard.  She nodded and straightened up.  She produced a stretcher and floated Lucy out of the room without another word.

Seamus, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Lavender followed after Professor McGonagall, but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't allow them in the hospital wing.  Lavender turned and began to run back.

"Where are you going?" Hermione called after her.

"To check and see if anyone is trying to call Lucy from her mirror!"

But to their surprise, no one was calling.  And what puzzled Hermione more, Faustas was nowhere to be found.

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"I don't like this."

"Just move the piece."

She was trying to play Ron in wizard chess but couldn't concentrate.  McGonagall had assured them after dinner that Lucy was going to be just fine, but she couldn't say what had happened or how long she would be gone.

Seamus, for his part, had taken his books and set up watch outside the door to the hospital wing, doing his assignments and waiting for any word.

When it was apparent that a little noise wouldn't hurt her, Madam Pomfrey reluctantly allowed students in to see Lucy two days later, although she had yet to wake up.

She lay in one of the beds, her hands resting neatly on top of the covers.  She looked far too quiet for the person who had been arguing so loudly right before she blacked out.

Seamus didn't like it at all.  He stood by the side of the bed and looked down at her wrist and saw it was bandaged.  The beads must have been cut off, they were coiled neatly on the table beside her.  He picked up her uninjured hand, he didn't expect it to be so warm, after all she looked like she was dead.  Madam Pomfrey shooed him out shortly after, but he told Lucy he'd be back.

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Lucy opened her eyes only to close them again.  The world looked fuzzy.  Her head was pounding like nothing she had ever felt before and she felt drained of all energy.  She opened her eyes again, better, not clear, but better.  She looked down at her wrist, it was bandaged.  The beads were gone.  A quick frantic search found them on the bedside table.  She tried to sit up to reach them only to fall back against the pillows.  The sound alerted Madam Pomfrey.

"You're awake?  You gave me a scare for a minute there Miss Montero."

"My beads."  The words came out slurred and her eyes widened in surprise.  The nurse didn't seem bothered though.

"Oh, it will take a few days before everything's running like normal dear.  You stopped breathing."

As she said this, the nurse picked up her wrist and tapped the bandage with her wand.  It dissapeered, revealing a healed wrist with a few tiny parallel scar lines from where the beads had lain.

"You can always take care of those later if you want to dear."  The nurse commented.  She wrapped the breads back around Lucy's wrist and with another tap of the wand the strand was tied together as if it had never come off.

"What happened?"  Lucy worked a bit and the words came out clearly.

"Well done dear.  Now we are not exactly certain.  I think the headmaster knows a bit about it.  He'll be in later to see you.  Drink this."

Lucy did as she was told.  The throbbing in her head lessened and she found she was drowsy again.  She noticed that someone had left her mirror by her bed and decided to find out what had happened after a little nap.

When she woke up, Dumbledore was seated by her bedside.  She tried to sit up but he put a hand on her arm.

"If you do that I'm afraid I'll be thrown out of here, so why don't you just lie back down Lucy."  There was sadness and fatigue in his voice.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Lucy thought back through the haze.  "I was talking with Seamus when there was this ringing and…"  She lost herself in the memory.  Then the reality dawned on her.  What must have happened.  What was the only thing that could have caused her to stop breathing… the ringing… Diego's beads… She looked up into Dumbledore's eyes, her own pleading with him not to say what she already knew he was going to say.  "No…"

"You stopped breathing Lucy, " he began, "and you were revived and brought here.  Do you have any idea how you were revived?"

Lucy shook her head. 

"Professor McGonagall severed the connection you had with your school."

"She couldn't have."

"She could have once you stopped breathing.  You're body was channeling all its energy into obtaining oxygen and keeping the brain and heart going.  The connection became exposed and Professor McGonagall cut it off.  You started breathing immediately."

Lucy didn't say anything.

"The connection was killing you Lucy," the headmaster went on, "because you were not shielded and Espiritu was being poisoned.  That poison was being transmitted to you and suffocating you."

Lucy shook her head.  "Where's Professor de La Vega?  Does he know what happened?"

Dumbledore paused.  "I'm sure he knows what happened, he was there you see."

"Then where is he?"  Lucy already knew the answer, she could feel the huge empty hole inside, but she was desperate for someone to tell her it wasn't true.

"He's gone Lucy."

"Where?"

"I wish I could tell you.  I was notified by an express albatross from the Circle Council that Espiritu had been attacked again, in a similar manner to the attacks on Chadwicks and Joshua Tree, and that there was no one left.  They only discovered it yesterday but they presume the attack was three days ago, the time when you fell ill."

Lucy wasn't saying anything.

"Lucy, do you understand?"

"Where's Faustas?"

"I don't know, I'm afraid he has not been sighted since you came here."

"Oh," she said in a calm and detached voice.  "When you see him could you bring him here please."

"Of course."

Dumbledore looked down at her.  It seemed odd that a child, being told her family was gone, would not cry or yell,  but Lucy was looking calmly out the window.

"Would you like something to eat?"

Lucy nodded.  "Yes, thank you."

"I'll make sure they bring you something hot then, and I'll be back to see you tomorrow Lucy."

"Goodbye."

Lucy ate her food obediently and went to sleep soon after.  She was awakened by a voice calling her.

"Lucy, Lucy are you there?"

She rubbed her eyes and looked around, the room was empty.

"Lucy?"

She looked again, then realized the voice was coming from the mirror.  She picked it up and braced it against her knees, leaning back against the pillows.  Thomas stared out of her.

"Lucy!  Thank the little gods.  Are you ok?"

"What do you think?"

Thomas winced.  "Sorry.  Gods, I'm so sorry Lucy."

"Just tell me everything you've heard."

"You don't know?"

Lucy shook her head.  "The connection almost killed me.  I don't know anything and I can't find Faustas, I don't know what this would have done to him, so tell me what you've heard."

"It wasn't burned.  From what they've seen they think they tried but Espiritu had too many protections, wouldn't burn.  Didn't stop them from doing all sorts of other obsecenities.  The Maintainers could barely stand it there, its really contaminated… Are you sure you want to hear this?"

Lucy nodded,  "Everything."

"It had been gone over pretty well, a real mess.  A bunch of translations are missing, and storage was raided."

"Storage?  You mean in the cellar?"

Thomas nodded.  "The Maintainers said that was gone over the most, and that there's a bunch missing from the far corner, a big dust free patch indicating something was there and isn't now."

Lucy gulped.  "Survivors?"

A look of pain came over Thomas' face.  "I'm sorry Lucy, everyone was home.  They've been calling all schools but it looked like all the adepts and masters had been called back right before it happened. No one besides you was gone, but they're still looking."

Lucy nodded and swallowed hard.  "Thank you Thomas."

"Do you, do you think they'll move you now?"

"Where?  I mean, if I couldn't go home before I REALLY can't go home now."

Thomas nodded.  "Well, if you do-, if they-, we'd love to have you here you know."

Lucy nodded, thinking that if she'd had a big brother, she'd want him to be like Thomas.

"Thank you for the invitation."

"Well I mean it.  We've talked about it, I mean, with the Chadwicks girls here and all, Seville doesn't get many new people you know, we're kind of like the Black Sheep of the family for belonging to both Circles."

"Trust me, I know what it feels like to be the odd one out around here."

Thomas smiled.  "Take care of yourself Lucy."

Lucy nodded.  "And Thomas?  Tell then I want that dirt sample as soon as they can get it out here."

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She slept on and off, but it wasn't restful.  As soon as she'd doze off into what looked to be a restful slumber she would see faces in front of her eyes.  Rosa Alvarez, professor de La Vega, Diego, professor Girladi… the majority of people she had met in the brief course of her life lived at that school and they were all gone… no, staying awake was much safer.

It was when she woke up after another fitful sleep that she saw Seamus standing by her bedside.

She was still more asleep than awake when his features finally came into focus.  "She let you in?"

"I sneaked in."

"Oh."  Lucy looked up at him, not quite sure what to say. She wasn't exactly prepared to answer questions yet.  He didn't give her much of a choice.  He was standing over her, a look of expectation on his face, arms crossed in front of him.

"What."

"You scared the shit out of me Lucy."

Lucy just continued to stare back at him.

"Well, aren't you going to explain?"

"What exactly do you want me to say Seamus?"

"Well, what happened for starters."

"I don't know."

"What do you mean 'you don't know"?

"I mean that I have not been given all the information yet, so I really don't know what went on.  I don't think I can be any clearer than that."

Seamus paused and looked at her for a moment.  Something was wrong.  First of all Lucy was speaking in a strange, detached voice, she was irritated with him but she wasn't yelling at him, which was highly irregular.  Normally an irritated Lucy was a violent Lucy and a certain classroom had marks on the walls to prove it.  Whatever it was, she was holding it in and it was clear she wouldn't be explaining a damn thing today.

He sighed and gave up, running a hand through his hair and looking at her intently.

"Are you really ok?"

"I'm tired, and my head still hurts, but there wasn't any permanent damage or anything."

"Good."

He just stood there staring at her.  He wanted to scream.  He knew something was bothering her, something big, and she wasn't telling him.  He'd get it out of her eventually but it bothered him that she wouldn't tell him voluntarily.  She'd never had a problem complaining to him before.

"You'd better go, she'll skin you alive."  Lucy jerked her head in the direction of the other room.

"Right, see you later."


	24. Chapter 24: It's a Twister! It's a Twis...

Chapter 24: It's A Twister!  It's a Twister!

The next day Lucy woke in the afternoon to Madam Pomfrey gently shaking her.  "Miss Montero, the headmaster is here to see you."

Lucy sat up and tried to look presentable.

Dumbledore was standing at the foot of her bed, in his hands he was holding an earthenware urn.

"I asked the gentleman downstairs if, given the circumstances, I could deliver this.  It took quite a bit of convincing but I assumed you'd want it as soon as possible."

"Do you know what that is Professor Dumbledore?"

"I presume it is a portion of earth from somewhere on the Espiritu grounds."

Lucy looked up, "How did you know that?"

Dumbledore smiled and placed the urn on the bedside table.  "I think you'll find that there is very little that goes on around here that I don't know about Lucy."

Lucy wasn't sure what to say.  "How?"

Dumbledore smiled, "When you have been dealing with one group of conspiring students after another, it becomes a second sense.  The Weasley's have taught me more than most… Harry's father and his friends were the same way…."  

Lucy waited patiently, the headmaster seemed lost in a rather pleasant memory.

When Dumbledore turned back to Lucy she was still staring at him intently.  Uncanny, the glacier calm expression didn't seem to belong on the face of someone who had just lost everything.

"Lucy, given the circumstances I'd like you to… do whatever it is you do with this sample, in my presence this time."

There was fear in her eyes now.  "Why sir?"

Dumbledore sighed.  "Because this isn't a place you've never been or only visited a few times, this is your home.  And there may be certain, complications when you experience what-"

"Because I think I'd prefer to be alone for that same reason.  I mean, it's not like I haven't thought about it.  I'll probably see my family in this, I'd like it to be private.  After all, I've seen what happens, this probably won't be much different, so in a way I already am prepared."

Dumbledore sighed, "Of course, it was only a suggestion.  You do have the right to do whatever you need to in order to fulfill your duty.  But if you do feel like you might want to have someone around, don't hesitate to come by my office, professor McGonagall would take you up."

Lucy nodded.  "Thank you sir."

"Well then, Madam Pomfrey says you are to be let go this afternoon, so I'll see you in the Great Hall tonight."

"Yes."

With that the headmaster rose and left the room, and Lucy could do little else but stare at the urn he had left on the bedside table.

She returned to Gyriffindor Tower that afternoon.  The urn sat on top of the trunk at the foot of her bed.  Lucy stared at it, but for some reason couldn't bring herself to open it.

"Coming to dinner?" Lavender chirped as she held the door open.  Lucy sighed, forced a genuine looking smile and followed her out.

If Lucy had thought Snape had been giving her creepy looks, it was nothing next to what she was getting as she made her way to a spot at the table that night.  She ate uncomfortably, responding to Hermione's well intended questions to keep the conversation going, but not really participating much.  Her mind was back on what was in her room.  The headmaster was right, she ought to go to his office and do it there, but somehow, something in her wanted this to be private.  She should wait for the right time though…

But as she ate it knawed at her, was always in the front of her thoughts.  As she pushed her plate away and hastened out of the Great Hall she decided that instead of the right time she would settle for right now.

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Parvati was in the bedroom already with a headache, so Lucy took the urn and settled for sitting in front of the fire in the common room.  She had left dinner early, she should have plenty of time.  It certainly wasn't as if she really wanted to dwell in the past in this case.

_It was quiet.  Too quiet.  Lucy knew the sounds of Espiritu like the rythemn of her own heart, and something was off, something was missing.  If was driving her crazy.  Is she had thought she had time she would have gone back in time farther to see what happened to make it so quiet, but even as she looked around, she saw Them.  They came all at once, right out of the air.  They were swarming all over the roofs within minutes, a huge moving throng of black, entering the upper level apartments, it was night.  She began to hear screaming….saw Naomi and Jonathan, a newly married couple doing their third pre-Adept thesis together on flow anomalies, they had hopped out the window of their suite of rooms, onto the roof of professor Giraldi's.  Naomi turned and sent a jet of red beck through the window at whomever was coming out, but Jonathon was pulling on her.  "There's no time Naomi, no time, he knows what they want and he says to come now!"  Lucy realized that was a telepathic conversation, but in their haste Jonathon was broadsending, anyone who could speak mind to mind would be able to hear it.  They leapt from the roof, hovering a second away from the ground and landing softly ,then broke into a run across the courtyard…. a moment later people came pouring out of rooms like fire ants out of a hill.  Professor Giraldi, Rosa Alvarez… Tony, who was also the cook… Anita, Pedro, Gustav, Henry, Evelyn, everyone was heading in the same direction: across the innermost courtyard and down the stairs that led to the network of underground tunnels, and the ancient temple under the mission building.  It took work to get there though.  The strangers in black seemed intent on taking them, they had to fight their way across, ducking flashes of dark green light, from what she could tell no one had gone down yet, the intruders were not sure of how to deal with this new type of defense.  She followed down into the underground temple, and saw her mentor, professor de La Vega, with a few of the senior elders.  Chief Moses Drummond, one of the last remaining Iroquois shamans in the country, and the currant head of Espiritu, was already building a gate in the archway, a gate that had a deadly similarity to the one created at Chadwicks.  Lucy knew what they were going to do, but she still didn't understand it… she knew they knew the danger, there had to be some other way… she focused on her mentor, and sucked in her breath when she saw he was in a corner, supporting professor Giraldi, who apparently had been injured.  "You'll be all right my boy, it doesn't seem-" "Antolin, we've been good friends, let us not start to lie now.  Even if it wasn't fatal, there's no way I could survive the void, as it is the chances that we will-"  "There are ways Jerome, you'll see, we can protect ourselves until…" "Until when?  We can't get back out?  Who is going to find us?"  There was a pause and Jerome Giraldi gave a shudder, professor de La Vega adjusted him to a more comfortable position, keeping an eye on the door.  "There's always the children…"  Jerome sighed, "Thank the gods the Sahara called when they did… but Lucy is too young, she doesn't know…"  "She'll learn, she's never accepted defeat before.  She's stubborn, she got it from me, and if it takes her the rest of her life I know she'll get us out… but she doesn't have to, she's not alone.  If the rest, if they work together, all of them…"  Jerome shook his head, "We tried that a long time ago Antolin, you more than anyone should remember how that came out."  Antolin sighed, "And yet, if it hadn't, think how dull…"  "Peaceful, you mean," Jerome forced a smile, that turned into a grimace.  "Jerome, just because Hogwarts failed before doesn't mean we can't trust them.  I think I would trust that Albus Dumbledore with just about anything, didn't I already send him Lucy?"  "And wasn't that more of a punishment than an act of good faith… at least you know she's safe for now…"  Antolin looked pained, "Diego…"  "Gods, there's so much I was going to teach him, he had a gift, Antolin, the strength of which I have never seen, and now he…" At that moment she saw Jonathon re-enter the room.  "That's everyone Moses, everyone that's left."  Moses Drummond nodded.  "Seal it off then Jonathon."  Jonathon nodded and the stone slab that had always stood against the far wall lifted up and deposited itself in the doorway, sealing the room.  And just in time by the sound of footsteps and banging that could be herd second later from outside.  He took Naomi's hand.  "At least we're together."  "Almost," she said softly.  Without another word they began to file through the gate.  This was not a chain, everyone left at Espiritu had enough skill to stay together without physical contact.  She saw her mentor and Rosa helping carry what was now an unconscious Giraldi through… Moses was the last to leave "Por los dios del norte, sur, oeste e este, protéjanos."  And with that he was gone.  Lucy went back outside, the strangers were still there, they were searching through rooms and emptying out drawers… that's when Lucy saw a body… Marcela, lying half in and half out of the doorway to her rooms… she had seen her husband Daniel and their infant son in the temple, she had assumed Marcela… as Lucy watched in horror, rage building inside her, she saw more.  There was someone in the old fountain in the courtyard, she didn't want to go close enough to see, the rage was starting to affect her thinking… she could feel what was being done to the land, the poison, the contamination, the pure evil sinking into the soil.  She felt like throwing up, but that feeling was beginning to mutate into something stronger, a hate a seething anger and rage and hate, she wanted to hurt something… she saw them trying to burn it, but it wasn't working… for one thing it was adobe and another… she was distracted by activity on the roof of the tallest building, someone was laughing, she wanted to kill him, and then, something shot into the sky, she saw it, saw it take form… what in the name of the furies was that?  She wanted to hurt something… really wanted to hurt something…_

When Lucy pulled herself out of the vision she couldn't think straight, she was wrapped up in a blanket of hatred and anger and grief and rage and there was no shugging it off, she couldn't focus on anything but the pain she had seen, she was feeling, she lost all conscious control.

Hermione had left dinner before Ron and Harry, said she wanted to check on Lucy.  She heard something strange as she headed down the hall toward the fat lady.  Something was crashing and bumping inside.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you?"

"Why not?" 

"Listen to it girl!  No, no, something very strange in there, not entirely safe I expect."

"Flibbertigibbit, I don't care."

"Well, it's against my better judgement, but there's not much I can do, is there?"

Hermione ran inside, straight into a storm.

Lucy was in the middle of it, but Hermione couldn't tell if she was awake or not.  Her eyes were open, but she didn't seem to see anything.  All around her things were flying in circles, books, pillows, the fireplace poker, clocks, small end tables, moving with incredible speed around Lucy, a minature tornado with Lucy in the eye.

"Lucy?  Lucy!  Lucy stop it!  Can you hear me?  Stop it Lucy!"

But Lucy didn't respond, things moved faster, but they weren't being pulled in like a tornado, Hermione felt no force, it was just as if they were selected and tossed into the mix.  She was going to hurt herself if this went on for much longer.  Firewood from the fireplace was flying dangerously close to her head as it was…

"Lucy can you hear me?  It's Hermione?  Lucy calm down, stop it!"  She had to do something….  she took a step towards her, and another, and another.  She was on the border of the cloud, and took a step forward, expecting a blow.  None came.  The objects just veered around her, odd.  She took another step.

"Hermione stop!  Are our of your mind?  Come back!"  She turned her head to see Ron standing in the doorway, face gone white, Harry ran up behind him.

"Hermione come on, come back here before she-that-it kills you!"

Hermine paused, she had to snap Lucy out of it…

"Come on!  Don't be stupid get out of there!"

"Ron I'll be ok!  I don't think she'll hurt me, she's just scared or something… I've got to snap her out of it!"

"She's insane!  Look at her!  You'll get killed, come on back!"

Harry looked at Lucy, but Hermione was right, the cloud went right on spinning its debris, but none of it hit Hermione.  
  
"Ron, she's right.  I don't think Lucy will hurt her."

Ron looked at him in disbelief.  "You're going to trust our best friend's life to that?  She's dangerous and always as been, you saw what she was capable of months ago!"

"Ron-"

"If Hermione can't think straight then I'm going to-"

"What's going on?"  It was Seamus, who had just come through the portrait hole.

"It's Lucy, she's gone bezerk and she's going to kill Hermione."

"What!"  Seamus pushed past him, and saw Lucy at the center of swirling debris, her hair being blown about, and Hermione in the middle of the cloud, as of yet untouched.

"That's it, I can't take this."  And with that Ron ran into the cloud.

"Ron don't!"  Both Harry and Hermione shouted at the same time.  But Ron came in anyway ducked to avoid the fire poker, grabbed Hermione around the waist with one arm and pulled her out.  The cloud seemed to push them farther, and they ended up with Ron tossed all the way until his back was against the wall, one arm still protectively around Hermione's waist.

She turned around and slapped him in the head.  "What did you do that for?"

"I was saving yo-"

"I wasn't in any danger, look at me, not a scratch.  Honestly, she's doing more harm to herself than to anyone else."

Harry looked and saw that what Hermione had said was true, Lucy's hands and arms were covered in scratches, she had a nasty gash on her back from what he assumed must have been the fire poker… the red blood looked eerie on the white fabric of her clothes… but she didn't seem to have felt anything, she stood as straight as ever.

"We've got to stop this-"

Before Hermione could say another word Seamus had dashed into the cloud.

It felt funny, noisey, he ducked to avoid a piece of firewood, and didn't see the chess board.  The edge clipped him in the head and he fell down.  

Lucy felt it, felt the board hit someone, realized what was happening, and the cloud disspated, all objects flying back to wherever they came from.  She looked around in a daze, and saw Seamus on the floor, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Well, ow…"

"Seamus?  Oh gods, Seamus I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it I didn't, Seamus are you ok?"

Something weird was going on.  All of a sudden Seamus felt angry and confused and relieved, and then incredibly guilty and remorsefull, and then grief stricken… he sat back down, what was going on?

He was giving her what was officially the strangest looked in the world, what was going on?

"Are you ok?"  Ron asked, taking him by the arm and helping him up.  At that contact Seamus felt a great, seething loathing toward… Lucy?  But he wasn't mad at Lucy?  After Ron let go of his arm the emotion was no longer so intense, but he could still feel it in the back of his mind.

"I think you're going to have a lump,"  Lucy felt the side of his head, and suddenly he was overcome with guilt and regret and self hatred… he looked into Lucy's eyes.

"Lucy what happened to me?"

Lucy looked startled.  "You got hit by the chessboard, but it's not bleeding, a little ice, or a little magic, you'll be-"

"I don't mean that… why can I feel that Ron is angry?"

Lucy's eyes widened in alarm.  Oh no, oh great good gods, no.  "Uh, Seamus, I'm gonna do something, real quick, to check, it's gonna feel a little funny."  She reached for his temple and brushed the surface of his mind, followed down to his deep subconscious and took a look.  There it was, an empathy channel that had recently been sliced open, she would have liked to look for others but that would have been an invasion of privacy.  Damn, she hadn't thought this would happen, but this was her fault.  It was one thing to be the freak from another country, people expected you to be odd, she couldn't make Seamus a freak among his own, she had a place, or used to anyway, where this would be accepted, but here?  No, people here definitely did not trust people who could root around in your head.  She only hoped she still remembered what could be done.  She let go and came back to herself in a rush.

"Come with me." 

She took a bewildered Seamus by the hand and led him back out the portrait hole.  She winced, the hallway was now crowded with Gryffindors returning from dinner, all in different emotional states.  Seamus blanched.

"Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here."

She darted around a corner and took a side passage away from the throng of students.  She found an empty classroom and pulled him in and shut the door.

"Better?"

Seamus gulped and nodded.  "What-"

But Lucy was already sitting him down in a chair and pulling up one to face him.  "Oh, gods, Seamus I'm so sorry, really I never meant for this to happen, I'm so sorry, but don't worry I can fix it just, just, give me a moment to remember how to fix it,"  Lucy was on the verge of tears, what had Rosa told her about blocking channels?  She couldn't stop moving her hands, fluttering them about, standing up, pacing around, she couldn't stop moving and it was driving Seamus nuts.

"Lucy, stop, what's going on?"

What was she supposed to tell him?  That she'd altered his brain, made him into exactly the kind of barabarian wizard people around here didn't trust?  "I- I didn't mean to do it, it must have been the distortion in the cloud, I opened a channel, re-opened a channel, I'm not sure, you're empathy channel is open now but don't worry, I can fix it, I'll fix it, you won't be a freak, don't worry, just give me a minute to remember-  Seamus grabbed her hand.  All of a sudden he was flooded with guilt and shame, and behind it suppressed grief and a whole lot of anger.  He let go of her hand like he had just touched a hot stove.

Stupid, he though to himself as he saw the hurt in her eyes, now she thinks you're afraid of her.

"Lucy, just sit down.  Are you telling me that, when I felt really angry back in the common room, that was from Ron, when he was pulling me up?"

Lucy nodded, "I think he's going to kill me."

"And what I felt just now, that was you?"

Lucy didn't answer.  But suddenly there was something more important to him than this new ability.  He could still feel the guilt and shame and anger, even without touching her, and the strength of them took his breath away.

"Lucy, what happened?"

"I told you, when-"

"No, not to me.  Lucy what happened to you, what's wrong?"

She realized that in her haste she was unshielded, she silently cursed herself and re-enforced.  All of a sudden Seamus felt nothing again.

"What was that?"

"I shielded my head, I was leaking, that's why you could feel what I was…"

Seamus took her hand in his, noticing how small it looked.  "Please tell me what's going on."

"Why?"

"WHY?  Why?  Because if those are you're emotions you're bordering on the brink of suicide!  You haven't been yourself since you got sick, tell me what's going on?"

"I think we ought to deal with you first."

"NO!  No!  For once we're not going to do what you want.  I'm the one who can suddenly do this, and I'm going to use it.  Since you're responsible, you're going to explain everything that has been happening up until that little hurricane in the common room five minutes ago!  I'm through with the cryptic comments and secrecy!  I don't keep secrets from you and I want an explanation damn it!"

Lucy gulped, well, he was entitled to the truth.

"There isn't that much to tell."

"Well start at the beginning and we'll go from there." He was angry and she could tell.

She took a deep breath.  "I really didn't know what was going on the day I passed out.  I had this ringing in my ears and I couldn't breathe.  When I woke up professor Dumbledore was there and he told me what happened, although I could already tell the minute I was fully conscious, he just confirmed the suspicion."

"What was that?"

She wasn't going to cry.  If she hadn't cried before she sure as hell wasn't going to cry now.

"It's gone, all of it.  My school was attacked again and this time they got in and they killed people and everyone who wasn't dead threw themselves into the place between the gates and they're not coming back."

Christ Almighty, he hadn't been expecting that.  He didn't know what he had expected, an illness or something but not this.  What were you supposed to say to this?  But Lucy went on talking.

"And so that's why I've been a little out of sorts.  And then they sent me the urn and its my job to use the earth to relive what happened and then tell the council so it can be recorded in the Chronicles and they can decided what to do.  But when I saw the- what they did I just got angrier and angrier and I couldn't do anything but watch and when I came out of it- it was like I was still there and I just wanted to hurt something so the telekinesis went out of control and, and I swear I didn't know what was going on till I felt you get hurt and then I stopped it but you'd already had the channel opened, I didn't know that could  happen, honest, and I can fix it, really, Rosa showed me so don't worry I can-"

What was wrong with her?  She had just told him her family was basically dead and she was worried that he had some channel open?

"Why didn't you tell me about Espiritu?"

"I- I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to believe they had gotten away somehow, that my school was different, that they couldn't have been as vulnerable, and if I didn't tell anyone, it was like it never happened so I didn't have to worry… but then I saw the vision and it is real, it really happened and they're all gone and they really, they really aren't coming back and I'm never gonna see Diego or professor de La Vega or…"

Her breath was coming in quick, fast breaths now, and the pain in her voice about broke Seamus' heart.  He stood up and pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms and leaning his cheek on the top of her head.

"God Lucy, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…"

That was when she cried.  He held her while her shoulders shook and awful, gut wrenching sobs broke out of her throat.  He kept whispering that it would be all right, it was ok, smoothing her hair with one hand while the other arm held her against him in a strong grip.  Lucy tried to calm down but she couldn't, this was what came of holding her grief in for so long.  But Seamus didn't seem to mind.  When her tears started to make dark spots on his shirt she tried to pull away, but he wouldn't let her; and it was just too easy to collapse against him and let her sorrows drown themselves out against his shoulder.

"You should have told someone Lucy, you shouldn't have kept this to yourself."

"I knew… that if… I told you… I'd end up… crying…" she managed between ragged breaths.

"And what is wrong with crying?  Christ Lucy, that's what you're supposed to do when this happens."

"Not if you have to figure out what happened, they still don't know and I can't just forget about that.  I'm one of their best chances for getting information."

There wasn't any arguing with that.  Lucy was a fanatic about pulling her own weight with the guild despite being 'in exile.' She'd told him how paranoid she was that she was going to be held back on the Adept track because of all the time she had to spend here.  She was going to do this if it killed her, and part of him was scared at that.  He hugged her a little tighter.

"Just, just promise me that you'll at least tell me, or Hermione, if something like this happens again, please?"

She nodded and wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve.  "Now will you let me fix you?"

She wasn't in a mood to be argued with and he knew it.  He sighed, "What do you mean?"

"I mean you can still be ok, I can fix this and then you won't have to walk around like Lucy the Amazing Walking Sideshow, although I suppose I am a little less entertaining without the pet bird…. you won't have to be a freak like me-"

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Saying what?"

He leaned forward and looked intently at her, forcing her eyes to met his.  "Is that honestly the way you think people see you?"

"Well, yes, I'd say that much is blatantly obvious."

"Lucy, you are not a freak."

"I know that, but I've known me my whole life.  Around here not even the professors think I'm normal, we've both seen that, and I bet you a sack full of galleons that Ron tries to kill me the minute I set foot back in the common room.  Even though I didn't hurt Hermione he still thinks I'm a ticking bomb or something, you should have been able to feel it, I have to double my shields around him, he always manages to get through."

He had felt a deep-seated loathing, he never would have expected it from Ron though.  Although Ron was a little crazy whenever it came to protecting Hermione.

"So what do you want to do to me?"

"From what I saw, I'd say you had channels open before, when you were little, and as you grew up and didn't need them, they sort of closed over, got blocked, kind of like scar tissue.  The energies from the cloud must have ripped it open again, but I can seal it up, while its so new I can seal it back up and it will be like it never happened, now give me your hand-"

"No."

She looked up at him, confused.

"What?"

"I said no.  I mean, what if I don't want it sealed up?"

"This would cause you all sorts of problems… learning a new gift so late, its really hard and you would need a real teacher…"

"You could teach me."

"What?"

He looked at the floor.  "I mean, you know about this empathy stuff, you've had to control it-"

"And look at the bang up job I've done here."

"You've controlled it for the rest of the year and the rest of your life, so I'd say you're more than qualified.  And anyway, I mean, this is a gift, right?  Where you're from it's considered a gift?"

Lucy nodded.  "It's more than simple telepathy, reading minds, empathy you basically read the soul, I mean eventually, in the  beginning its only surface mental states…"

"So why would I want to throw it away?"

"I don't think people here would understand…"

"Well, I guess I'll have to trust them now won't I?"

"And if they still don't understand?"

Seamus lifted his head and looked her straight in the eye.  There was something there she hadn't noticed before.  "Well, then I'll still have you, right?"

Lucy smiled, "Always."

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As she expected, Ron was waiting for her the minute she came back to Gryffindor Tower.  Seamus read the look on his face and unconsciously took a step forward and slightly in front of Lucy.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"To bed Ron, I'm very tired."

"I don't think so."

 Ron made a step towards Lucy, he wasn't going to hit her, obviously, Lucy was a girl, but he was still very angry, and Lucy wasn't showing any signs of remorse for almost killing his best friend.

Seamus put out a hand to keep Ron from coming any further.  "Don't be a prat Ron, she didn't hurt anyone.  If someone should be getting mad its should be me, and I'm not.  After all, I'm the one who rushed at her like an idiot while she was obviously in no state to reason."

"And who's to say she won't get like that again, tonight when they are all asleep and drop something on their heads?"

"Ron!"

"Well!  She's dangerous, that's what!"

The idiot, Seamus thought.  And knowing exactly what Lucy thought about herself and others, she was going to start believing him.  He turned around, and said in a low voice, "He's just excited, don't listen to a word, you hear me, not one word."  Lucy was looking a little white, but she nodded.  Seamus slipped an arm behind his back and squeezed her hand.

"Ron, trust me, that's not going to happen again, and I would never hurt Hermione or anyone else, you know that."

"I don't know anything about you.  And I don't want to, not anymore.  I helped you because Hermione asked, and look what you almost did to her!"

"I didn't 'almost' do anything!  She's fine!"

"This time."

Lucy was about at the end of her patience.  If there was something she wasn't ready for it was someone just as stubborn as her.  She gave up.

"Fine, you know what Ron, you're right.  I'm a big bad _loca_ from across the ocean who's sole purpose in coming here was to spend all of my energy to hurt insignificant self-involved trivial little _jovencitos_ like you.  And I feel this is so important that I will forgo sleep and study, just to make sure it gets done.  And when I am finished with you all I'm going to destroy Hogwarts and vanish in a puff of smoke like some third rate magician at a five year old's birthday party.  But if you are going to be mad at me, Ron, be angry for yourself, and don't use my grand master plan as an excuse to attempt to act like a man in front of Hermione, it is not my fault you don't have the huevos to tell the girl that you love her.  Now, I am exhausted from my campaign to ruin the world, and I am going to sleep, _buenas noches_ you insufferable pig."

Seamus was grinning like an idiot and Ron just looked like an idiot as she stalked past him and up the stiars to bed.

But she didn't go to sleep right away.  After checking and making sure Hermione was really all right she drew the curtains and pulled out a long ream of parchment.  She then used an old breathing exercise to calm the surface of her mind and retreat into her memory.  She found the memory of what happened at Espiritu, and without knowing what her hands would be doing, let go control and let her mind automatically write exactly what she had seen, and all the emotional impressions she had gleaned from the vision.  She was vaguely aware at the end that she was drawing something, and drew it twice, tearing off the copy and sticking it in the pocket of her pajama pants before rolling the rest into a tight scroll.  There had been an albatross circling earlier today, before she did the reading, and it had to be a messenger.  She vaguely remembered walking to the window and slipping the parchment into the tube on its left leg before giving it a quick scratch and sending it on its way.


	25. Chapter 25: A Lowdown Dirty Shame

Chapter Twenty Five: A Lowdown Dirty Shame  
  
Harry hadn't told anyone yet about his scar hurting that afternoon that Lucy got hurt. He had this horrible feeling about what was really behind the attacks on schools in Lucy's world, but he wasn't sure yet, after all, what could a bunch of people who were practically religious fanatics have that the Dark Lord would want? He settled with dropping a small note to Sirius by way of Hedwig and not telling anyone else.  
  
But that didn't buy him very much time. Lucy and Seamus spent the next two weeks working at basic control for his new 'gift'. The first thing he needed to nail down was grounding and centering; the ability to first identify his own personal energies, and then ground them in the corresponding energies in the land around him. It required instinct, which Seamus lacked, but he was a quick learner. And, unlike Lucy, the energies under Hogwarts did not feel alien. They were strange, yes, but he hadn't been trained at Espiritu, they were the only lines he had ever felt, and he had less qualms about using them than his new 'teacher.'  
  
After grounding and centering came shielding, which would take several months to be able to adequately hold up at an actual Western Mage school, but a slipshod shield would be serviceable inside Hogwarts, since there were no other empathetic students and Lucy was already well shielded.  
  
All the extra work meant that it had been almost three weeks before Lucy thought about the vision again. She knew and Seamus had pointed out that she was putting off actually looking back over it again, but she decided to take her time. So it was unexpectedly one Friday evening as she was searching through the pockets of her clothes for the key to her trunk that Lucy's fingers closed around a piece of paper. She brought it out and realized that the folded parchment contained the image she had drawn the night of the vision and the night she had hurt Seamus. She hadn't looked at it since. She sat down on the edge of her bed and unfolded it, the picture almost glowed against the pale color of the page.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Ron and Harry were in the middle of a particularly interesting and violent chess match when a door slammed open from one of the girls' dormitories. The sound of bare feet hitting the stone staircase echoed as someone ran down the steps. Before he knew it Lucy was standing in front of them, barefoot, in her pajama pants and tank top with no dressing gown, with a piece of paper crushed in her fist.  
  
The pieces scattered as she slammed the paper down on the board.  
  
"What is this?" She asked.  
  
Ron glared and Harry just stared at her.  
  
"Look, I know you know, so just tell me, WHAT IS THIS!"  
  
She jammed her finger down on the paper.  
  
Harry slowly turned towards the table and turned the sheet over, smoothing it out.  
  
Both he and Ron sucked in their breath at the exact same time.  
  
Staring back at them, a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, faintly glowing from the page, was the Dark Mark.  
  
Instinctively, Ron shoved the paper away, but Harry couldn't stop staring.  
  
"Why did you draw this?" his voice shook a bit.  
  
"I had no choice, it was poisoning the sky in green smoke 50 feet wide over MY school. Whomever it was that killed MY family also sent up THIS mark! What is it? Tell me!"  
  
Harry swallowed hard, "I think we ought to go see Dumbledore."  
  
Ron glared at Lucy, then looked at his watch. "It's late Harry…"  
  
Lucy shook her head. "No, these people could already be attacking someone else, we are going RIGHT now."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"We're going to wake him up you know…."  
  
"Harry, I don't see why we're helping her, I mean, for all we know she could go ballistic and kill us both…"  
  
"Shut up you arrogant ass, go back to bed if you want to, no one asked you to come. Besides Harry, he said he knew everything that went on in this school, if he knew who was killing these people then I want to know why he didn't tell me. I could have told the Council, Marcela could still be alive-"  
  
She was cut off as Dumbledore emerged from the entrance to his office. "Good evening Miss Montero, Messers Potter and Weasley, we've been expecting you."  
  
As they followed him up the staircase, Ron let out a small and timid, "We?"  
  
His question was answered when they entered Dumbledore's office. In a comfortable chair sat Sirius, and across from him sat Remus Lupin. Snape stood staring out the window behind Dumbledore's desk.  
  
"Oh are we ever in trouble," Ron looked around in terror.  
  
"What- What's going on?" Harry stammered.  
  
Sirius gave him a small smile. "Nothing you need to be quite so terrified of Harry. For once this really doesn't involve you."  
  
"And in a way it expressly involves you, in the sense that you live here, along with all the other Hogwarts students," Remus spoke, but his words seemed to be more bent towards Snape then towards Harry.  
  
Lucy didn't waste any time. She marched over to the headmaster and held up the drawing. "What is this?"  
  
Dumbledore seemed to ignore the fire in Lucy's eyes, and took the drawing slowly, turning around and looking it over. "So this is how you knew…"  
  
"What?"  
  
Dumbledore lifted his head up. "Pardon me, my girl. I suspected that the next time I'd have the pleasure of a personal conference with you would be when you discovered who it was had attacked your home. I didn't know exactly how you would discover that, so it came down to this…"  
  
"What is it!?"  
  
Remus gave her a questioning look. "You don't know?"  
  
Lucy shook her head. Sirius got enlightened look on his face.  
  
"Of course, she's from Espiritu, Remus. Do you really think they would focus much time teaching our history?"  
  
"I think if they don't they are leaving themselves a little vulnerable."  
  
Sirius gave him a look. "I think there has been quite enough evidence of that."  
  
Lucy looked back and forth with impatience.  
  
"Someone had better explain this-"  
  
"It's the Dark Mark, Lucy. The symbol that Death Eaters, followers of the Dark Lord, use as a sign of their allegiance."  
  
"So, the people who- they're from here? You know them?"  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter, I think it would be best if you left us for the present."  
  
Ron and Harry looked at each other and exited quickly.  
  
Lucy shook her head. "I don't understand…"  
  
"Last year Voldemort returned. He nearly killed Harry, who escaped, but not before Voldemort killed Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff. Since his re- emergence, we have been tracking him-"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Myself and others who are intelligent enough to realize the truth of what has happened and courageous enough to take action. Everyone in this room, for example, has been gathering information."  
  
"Professor Snape…"  
  
"Professor Snape is the reason you are still alive, Lucy. If it hadn't been for his forewarning, Professor McGonagall would never had gotten to you in time or known how to help you."  
  
"How…"  
  
"He was able to warn us immediately beforehand that you were about to be in danger and that the best way to protect you would be to sever the connection with your school. And Professor Lupin here, I don't know if you've met him, has-"  
  
"Wait, how did he know that?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Sn- Professor Snape? How did he know I would be in danger? I mean he couldn't have known I was going to stop breathing unless he knew about…" Lucy's voice trailed off as realization dawned on her. She shook her head, backing away slowly… "You… you… murderer." Her voice was soft and shaking.  
  
Snape stared at her. "It was risky enough as it was to leak the information to help you without compromising my position, there was no more I could have done."  
  
"You position?" Lucy spat out the word. "Who are you working for that would… oh…. OH…. you're, you're one of them! You knew! All the time, you knew! Marcela's son will never see his mother again and all the time, you knew it was going to happen? What is the point of gathering information if you aren't going to use it!"  
  
Snape answered back without thinking. "I did my job you ungrateful girl! My mission was to gather important information, I couldn't risk becoming exposed over an ancillary bit of knowledge that-" He stopped himself, but it was too late, Lucy had heard all she needed to.  
  
"Ancillary? You let them destroy it because the protection of Western Adepts wasn't your concern? Because it wasn't as important as people here? You just stood by and watched-, no I bet you participated, if they let you in I bet you really enjoy that-"  
  
"THAT IS ENOUGH LUCY!" The headmaster bellowed. She had never heard him yell before. "Before you slander Professor Snape further, you ought to know that I requested that he take this position, he does so at great personal risk and you should remember and respect that." Severus was glaring at her.  
  
"Yeah, and a great world of good it did for me. If you all really are so committed to ignoring the plight of my school, you should have had the decency to do a proper job of it, and leave me alone. Because I would rather be trapped for eternity in the middle of the void with my family than spend another minute in this place with the likes of you."  
  
She turned and ran. Sirius made to grab her, but Dumbledore shook his head. "Give her some time to cool off, Sirius."  
  
"Albus, she doesn't understand-"  
  
"And it may be that she never will. Greater good or no greater good, she's never going to forget that we stood by and let her home and family fall to the hands of Voldemort when we could have warned them in plenty of time, to say nothing of aiding them. And considering the sacrifice they paid last time…"  
  
"Last time?"  
  
Dumbledore sighed and sat down, as if a great weight were upon him. "Yes, Espiritu came to our aid, or was going to come to our aid, several years ago, it did not end well and we… but that is another matter entirely."  
  
Remus shook his head. "The important matter at hand is what Voldemort is trying to raise, or concoct, Severus explain it again…"  
  
"Like I said before, no one is being told the entire plan. What I know is that Death Eaters are being given instructions to sack these various school and institutions, very specific places, and to obtain very specific items, books, rocks, I'm not sure the full list. And there is one more thing, they are trying to get people."  
  
"People?"  
  
"Any highly trained Western wizard, but it is proving rather more difficult than they imagined. It seems that even after gating or apparating have been blocked, the populations would rather commit suicide than allow themselves to be taken. They cast themselves into some void, I don't understand it all, but apparently they are as good as dead for doing it. As far as I know, no one has been captured alive, yet."  
  
"What does he want from them?"  
  
"So far they are just another ingredient in whatever it is that is being planned out, but they are absolutely vital. The longer it takes to find a person of enough power to use, the more angry the Dark Lord is becoming."  
  
"Then the spell, or whatever it is, is unfamiliar?"  
  
Snape shook his head. "I've tried to get more of it, and I might get it soon, Lucius is having a large gathering this weekend, but from what I've read I can barely translate. It is familiar and at the same time utterly foreign, as if it were a different magic all together. But parts of it terribly simple… it is very aggrevating."  
  
Dumbledore rose and put his hand on Snape's shoulder. "No one expects you to unravel this on your own Severus. We all know the kind of pressure you are under. Just continue to gather information, as you have been. Remus, what did you say you had found?"  
  
Remus held up a wrinkled piece of parchment. "A list of missing titles, for one, from the British Museum, a complete list, including books kept in the subterranean levels, only accessed by a small sect of the population."  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"I mean that the books stolen were books ordinary muggles didn't even know were in the museum, which were property of the Western Mage Preservation Society. They stored books in one of the museum's vaults and paid for the space. They have a legitimate front as a historical preservation society, but the museum wasn't privy to what was stored. That's why these titles didn't make the news report."  
  
Dumbledore scanned the paper, "I haven't heard of many of these titles."  
  
"That's because most of them are either Egyptian or written in Aramaic. Several Spanish volumes as well, but they all appear to be histories, anthropologies, that sort of thing. Not exactly your typical, do it yourself, guide to ruling the world."  
  
"Which is probably," Sirius added quietly, "why he's looking for people."  
  
Three heads snapped in his direction. "What?"  
  
Sirius turned and put down the drink he was holding.  
  
"Those books were obviously written a long time ago, when magic was very different. The attempts to get live captives could be an effort to find someone to translate, or de-code, interpret the writings to find how they can help bring power. These are schools after all, good places to find scholars…"  
  
Dumbledore turned to Snape. "Severus, is it worth risking losing the cover to warn these people?"  
  
Snape shook his head slowly. "I couldn't say, but I wouldn't do anything risky until I can find out more."  
  
Dumbledore sighed and looked out the window, "May their children forgive us. Very well, we do not notify the Circle until presented with stronger information."  
  
"What about the girl?"  
  
"What Lucy tells them won't compromise Severus' cover, they deserve the truth in any case."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
His shielding wasn't very good, he could feel that someone was angry. But his sensing was better, he knew it was Lucy.  
  
Sure enough, after Ron and Harry had slipped into bed, Seamus got up and padded down to the common room, to see Lucy sitting in a big chair, knees drawn up to her chest, staring out the window.  
  
He touched the back of her chair.  
  
"You're not leaking, I was projecting and you're shields aren't designed yet to counter a conscious effort to break them."  
  
He nodded and sat on the arm of the chair, waiting.  
  
"He knew, Seamus. Snape knew what was going to happen the whole time, he knew they were going to attack and try and kill them, and he did nothing…"  
  
"He saved you."  
  
"I wish he hadn't."  
  
"You don't mean that."  
  
Her voice shook as she looked up at him, eyes brimming with tears, filled with pain and anger. "Don't I? I mean, I try but I never thought it would be this hard…. It used to be that I could miss them, but know that they were looking up at the same sky, or knowing what they would be doing at that moment, and it was like they really weren't that far away… and now… now there's just this- this, emptiness. And I don't think its ever going to get filled."  
  
He noticed something draped over the other arm of the chair. Without saying anything he picked it up. A sapphire blue cloak trimmed in white unfolded before him.  
  
"What's this."  
  
"That came today. It's an ambassador cloak. Normally every school has two ambassadors on call for the council, they vote and act as emissaries, that sort of thing. Ours were Tasera and Alejandro, but now, well, I guess we'll just have one ambassador. It is a good sign in a way, they are still considering us an active school, for now I guess."  
  
"I thought you people all wore white?"  
  
That brought a smile. "Well, its kinda conveinient in the middle of the desert. But white is more a demonstration of the age and experience of the school, the sapphire blue is our council color. There is a whole set of guidelines for colors, but I never learned them."  
  
"What do you have to do?"  
  
"Oh, nothing for now. I mean, I should be called to council immediately, but I guess since I'm here and professor de La Vega's instructions ordered me to remain here, and I assume they did, someone else must be stepping in to speak for us at council. Frankly, I'm glad, I don't think I'd be very good at sitting still and keeping my mouth shut."  
  
Seamus grinned, "Nope, I doubt you would."  
  
Well, she was smiling, he thought, that was a good sign.  
  
"It's pretty late Lucy…"  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, oh grey-beard. And I should be going to sleep, is that it?"  
  
"You said it, not me."  
  
"You implied it. You're worse than having Rosa nagging after me."  
  
"Well, complain to me in the morning then, will you? Because I am too tired to get into a verbal sparring match with you right now."  
  
"Wimp."  
  
He didn't miss the slight look of apprehension though, as she turned towards the stairs.  
  
"You're not still having nightmares, are you?"  
  
"What? No, no, those stopped several days ago, I told you that." Lucy gave him a too bright smile before hopping up the stairs to bed. Seamus couldn't do anything about it, so he sighed and turned towards his door.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
But of all people, Harry was the one having trouble sleeping that night. He tossed and turned and when he finally did fall asleep, it was anything but peaceful.  
  
He was standing in a room, watching someone searching through a large, very old book. Scrolls were spread out on a table nearby, and stacks of other books were all over the floor.  
  
"Haven't you figured it out yet? The master wants it soon!"  
  
"I told you already, this is different. I can't understand what it is telling me to do. It might as well be Swahili. That's why I told you to get me someone who understands while you were at it. What good is more books going to do if no one can read them."  
  
"Maybe we just need to find someone else."  
  
"It wouldn't help you, Lucius. I know more about history and old magic than any other of our comrades, and I can barely make a dent in it. It is as if it were a mixture of normal magic and… something else. I don't think there is anyone left who could decipher it. You'd better start looking at other options."  
  
"There are no other options. This has to be successful before those orders of pious nature freaks can be tapped for service. Averil says they can't be seduced into joining, and no amount of… persuasion would be successful in using them to help. This is the only way to get around their defenses. It taps a whole new line of power. Even if we don't succeed in using them, their power sources will augment our own, imagine the possibilities!"  
  
"I don't care what you are planning, none of that is important if we don't know how to access and use it. And I don't trust Averil, the fellow is far too suspicious. If they can't be turned why is he helping us?"  
  
"Terrible, terrible irony. Blames the council and Albus Dumbledore for the death of his brother."  
  
"How's that?"  
  
Lucius shrugged. "Well, he doesn't exactly know the whole story, in fact, I think that half wit Dumbledore has been pretty keen to keep the truth to himself. But the important part is that he believes what we want him to believe, and without him we would never have got past their shields. Now, get back to that book."  
  
"Get me someone who can read it and the work will go twice as fast."  
  
"I'll look into it."  
  
Harry woke up in a hot sweat. What on earth was that all about?  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"Lucius Malfoy!"  
  
Ron slapped his hand over Hermione's mouth. "Bloody hell, Hermione! Why don't you just tell the whole library!"  
  
Hermione shrugged off his hand. "Sorry, but really, Harry, you ought to-"  
  
"Don't say 'ought to go to Dumbledore', Hermione, because there is no way my dream could possibly be considered hard evidence."  
  
"What were they looking at again?"  
  
"Old books, and a few scrolls, those sort of things. But from what they said it was as if they were written in another language, or using terms they couldn't understand. They needed a translator, I think that it the person Mr. Malfoy was supposed to be finding."  
  
"Why does their conversation sound so familiar?"  
  
Ron stared at her. "What, are you having dreams now too?"  
  
Hermione shook her head, irritated. "No, it's just that I know I've heard someone complain like that…"  
  
"Well, that's not important anyway, we need to figure out what they are planning to do."  
  
"Well, it looked pretty obvious. They are trying to access a new form of energy. Hermione, has the Daily Prophet mentioned any big breakthroughs?"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "Nothing, I didn't even realize it was being researched."  
  
Ron ran a hand through his hair. "This is making my head hurt. Chess, Harry?"  
  
Harry grinned and nodded, Hermione rolled her eyes.  
  
"You two, we're on the verge of discovering something big, and you are skipping off to play chess?"  
  
"Each to his own, Hermione. I just figured you'd want to dive into a pile of books."  
  
"Well, that does remind me…"  
  
She was lost in the stacks before Ron and Harry made it to the door.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
They were gathering. Months of only scattered sightings and now the largest grouping of Death Eaters since the summer was converging on Malfoy Manner. All in entirely respectable guises, of course, not a robe or mask in sight. What were they preparing for?  
  
Sirius didn't like it, he didn't like it at all. Still, he thought it wiser to stay around and sniff the matter out than to leave to inform Dumbledore. Something big was coming…  
  
Inside the manor, things were about to get down to business. Lucius had the entire assembly sealed off in his study, smoking cigars and drinking, some of them heavily, they looked like any other gathering of respectable gentlemen enjoying a night away from their wives. It was almost a full assembly of the male Death Eaters, minus Severus Snape, whose position at Hogwarts prevented him from leaving in the middle of the week.  
  
"So, Lucius, what is the stunning new piece of information?"  
  
"Has Edmund been able to decipher that pile of rubbish we obtained?"  
  
Lucius smiled and lit his cigar. "No, better. We have found one who can."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"And where?"  
  
He grinned wickedly, "That's the beauty of it. For I've had it from the mouth of my boy that what we seek is actually lodged right under our noses."  
  
He was met with confused stares.  
  
"At Hogwarts, gentlemen. At Hogwarts."  
  
"Well whomever it is might as well be in Brazil, there's no way into Hogwarts."  
  
Lucius shook his head. "Not if what Edmund has uncovered is right. It will require a bit of travel, but he seems to have found a way of slipping us, undetected, right onto the grounds. Then it is merely a matter of bringing the package to us."  
  
"How?"  
  
Lucius rolled his eyes. "Honestly, you don't expect me to understand that damned technical jargon of his, do you? But he says he will have our departure point pinpointed in a matter of days, so our little search may be at an end very soon." 


	26. Chapter 26: Well Now You Know

Chapter Twenty Six: Well Now You Know  
  
"You want to go where?" Harry looked at her as if she had sprouted a third head.  
  
"Out there." Lucy pointed out the window.  
  
Neville looked up from his star chart to see where she was pointing. He nearly choked. "Into the forest? Are you mad? It's not called the Forbidden Forest for nothing you know!"  
  
Lucy rolled her eyes. "It's not as if it is at the top of my list of places to go, but…"  
  
Harry turned back from Neville and shook his head"Why do you want to go there? What could possibly move you to-"  
  
"I think Faustas might be in there?"  
  
"Trust me, if he went in there, he would have flown straight back out."  
  
"He never went in there."  
  
"Then why are you going in there to look for him!"  
  
"Because, you twit, he did fly over it, a lot, and if he was flying over it at the time Espiritu was attacked, he could have fallen into it."  
  
"And he wouldn't have woken up by now?"  
  
A cloud came over Lucy's face. "I don't think so. He was still connected to Espiritu, more than I ever was, he is bound to the land, I don't know if he could have roused himself without assistance."  
  
"And you- you still think he's alive?"  
  
"Oh of course he's alive. He's kind of a god-like creature. He may just be too weak to find his physical form again. So most likely there's a red- shouldered hawk lying somewhere on the forest floor."  
  
"And nothing, well, I mean, there are animals and-"  
  
"Trust me, avatar bodies are highly repulsive to any predator or scavenger. They play on an animal's sixth sense. They know not to eat them, they just don't 'smell' right. The dogs at the reservation have to get used to them before they'll come around Espiritu, or came around Espiritu…."  
  
Harry looked around, Neville, who had never quit eavesdropping, shook his head emphatically. "Listen, Lucy, I'd love to help, really, but I can't go getting in trouble right now, I mean, I'm on thin ice already with Snape…"  
  
Lucy shook her head, irritated, "Fine, fine, don't help me then, I'll get in another way.  
  
Meanwhile, Hermione was still up to her ears in the library. What Harry had said had become an obsession, she knew she was close to understanding it, she just needed to not think about it for awhile and she would remember. So she took out a bit of light reading from the contemporary history section, deciding to see if any of the papers from the tine before the first downfall of Voldemort reported any investigations into new types of energy.  
  
She was in the middle of a particularly large volume of newspaper articles when she noticed one that had been torn out, and was lying crumpled behind the other books on the shelf. It was faded and yellowe, Hermione delitcately smoothed out the wrinkles and perused the title. "Four Ministry Members Die in Muggle Plane Crash Over Atlantic: Involvement of You-Know-Who Suspected." She read it again, since when did the Ministry use muggle transportation? And where were they going? Unfortunately, the article was brief.  
  
"Ministry of Magic Officials confirm that four members were on board Unified Air Flight 1616, which crashed into the Atlantic approximately 57 kilometers west of Iceland early yesterday morning, the eighth of June. Also on board were two American wizards, returning from the UK on business unknown. The ministry at this time will not release the names of the ministry members, or describe the business which brought the American wizards to England in the first place. The plane did not signal a distress call, which would have alerted muggle authorities that there was a problem, and there was no report of engine failure, which means the large contraptions pushing the plane appeared to be working fine right up until the crash. All passengers aboard as well as the pilot and co-pilot were killed, the plane sank in the icy Atlantic waters before salvage ships could reach its location."  
  
The paper was dated just months before the night Harry's parents were killed.  
  
And why did the name of the airline sound familiar?  
  
Oh Holy God, she needed to find Lucy.  
  
She hastily shelved the books and shoved the article in her pocket before running out of the library.  
  
She crashed into an angry looking Lucy in the hall.  
  
"I just came looking for you, Harry won't let me borrow-"  
  
"Lucy, what airlines did your parents fly for?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's important."  
  
"Umm, United, Swiss Airways, TWA, British Airways, and a few smaller, private companies."  
  
"Do you know their names?"  
  
"No, Hermione, not off the top of my head."  
  
"What about the last one?"  
  
Lucy gave her a look. But Hermione wasn't going to worry her with this unless she was sure.  
  
"Um, I don't know, I think they sent me a sympathy card but I was too small to be trusted not to eat it, let alone read it, it's in my box-"  
  
"Let's go get it."  
  
"What!"  
  
Without another word Hermione was pulling Lucy along by her arm up staircases and down halls until they reached the safety of their room.  
  
"Well?" said Hermione, closing the door, "find it."  
  
Lucy shook her head and opened her trunk. There in the bottom was a large old cigar box and her album. She opened the box and sifted through cuff links and bow ties, a glove, a bottle of perfume, a scarf, earrings, rings, necklaces, a Christmas card with a chubby dark eyed baby that must have been her, and found a pile of cards on the bottom tied together with a rubber band. On top was the program from her parents' memorial service. These were all the sympathy letters. She had read a few, but always stopped, it was just so sad and depressing, she didn't want to remember her parents that way anyway… Most of the people she had never met, but she finally came to one with a logo on it. She picked it up and read it aloud.  
  
"Our most profound regrets and sympathies for your loss. We'll miss their laughter. The crew and management of Unified Airways."  
  
Hermione sucked in her breath, but Lucy was more interested in the letter below this one. It was on parchment, with a broken green seal. It was addressed to herself and her guardian Professor de La Vega.  
  
"With many sincere regrets for your losses. I wish I could have done more. Keeping you in my thoughts, Albus Dumbledore."  
  
"Hermione?…" Lucy stared at her in wonder.  
  
Hermione was in shock, but she held out the article. "I found this today, I didn't want to show you unless I was sure…"  
  
Lucy read it over. "That's the day they died. They died transporting people from the ministry? But the ministry doesn't use planes?"  
  
"Why did Dumbledore send you a sympathy card?"  
  
"More important, why did he address it to professor de La Vega. He never met my parents, he didn't know anyone on that plane…"  
  
They looked at one another and without another word ran out of the room and down the hall toward Dumbledore's office.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &  
  
Since neither of them had the slightest clue as to what the password was to get in, they settled for knocking on the gargoyles head, frequently and repeatedly. Eventually Dumbledore appeared.  
  
"Why did you write this?" Lucy thrust the letter in his face.  
  
"A pleasure to see you again as well Miss Montero, Miss Granger, won't you come in and join the others."  
  
Hermione and Lucy looked at each other, others?  
  
As they entered the office they saw Ron and Harry sitting in chairs across from Dumbledore's desk. Remus Lupin occupied a chair by the fire and using the interruption to continue reading rather long letter.  
  
"My scar…" Harry began.  
  
"Yes, yes Harry. No need to explain yourself, unbelievably these ladies have come on business not concerning you. If you two would please to be seated."  
  
With few other options, both Hermione and Lucy drew up chairs.  
  
"You're business is, in fact, related, in a way…"  
  
"Why did you write that?" Lucy was impatient.  
  
"Patience is a virtue, Miss Montero. Now, the letter," a sad look came over Dumbledore's face. "I wrote the letter because I was partially responsible."  
  
"WHAT!"  
  
"If you will calm down and let me explain…"  
  
Hermione put a hand on Lucy's arm, giving her a warning look. Lucy sat back in her seat.  
  
"OK."  
  
"Now, this all started many years ago, during the first reign of terror set by Voldemort. The battle was in somewhat of a standoff, neither side was gaining or losing ground. But it did not appear we were going to have the numbers necessary to defeat him. None of us ever suspected it would only take one person," Dumbledore gave Harry a knowing look.  
  
"In any case, while we were discussing the next course of action, I was sifting through papers and came across an old letter, written about five years ago, from an old aquaintance, Antolin de La Vega. I had met him last about 20 years before, he had been in Diagon Ally with a young boy, his protégée, Paulo. I first met him about 15 years before that, on his first excursion to England. We had shared a drink or two and promised to stay in touch. For both of us it was rare to find a wizard of a different sect so eager to learn. We wrote letters ever since. Never too frequent, once every year or so, enough to spark our curiosity and answer our questions.  
  
"So when I found his letter I thought of him, and an idea came into my mind. The ministry wasn't thrilled about it, but we had few other options and they conceded. All we needed now was Antolin's cooperation. So I wrote him an urgent letter, asking in short the assistance of his circle in fighting what could become a mutual enemy. I warned him that although the Dark Lord was unaware of the existence of Western Mages, that could not protect him from long when he became more and more power hungry.  
  
"Antolin agreed, and took the proposal before the council, which was skeptical, at best. In the end they would not risk the security of so many small and unguarded schools to help the large and powerful East, but they would not stand in the way if individual schools wished to lend their services. The vote at Espiritu was close, but they had always been the most diplomatic of the major schools, and they agreed to send help.  
  
"It came initially in the form ofAntolin, who quickly returned to his school and sent two he thought better qualified, his young trainee, now a master, Paulo, and one of the oldest and most learned mages in residence, Ernesto Salvador, who was the protégée of the protégée of don Asriel, and very willing to go see the place Asriel had spent his final days in.  
  
"They came and began to work on ways which their magic could be used in defense. I should say, Paulo did, for all that Ernesto advised, he spent great amounts of time searching for Asriel's workroom, which I don't think he ever found. The results, however, looked promising. So when Ernesto had his heart attack, it couldn't have come at a worse time. However, Paulo insisted on accompanying the aging Adept back home, and Espiritu arranged for the flight bringing two experienced Adepts to England to also bring the initial two back home. As a sign of good faith, members in the ministry suggested and eagerly campaigned for several of our wizards to return to Espiritu, to help solicit more aid from the council. It was agreed, and four of them were also on the plane.  
  
"The pilots were, of course, your parents, Lucy. Wizards are terrible with muggle transportation and I requested that an experienced pilot take care of them. Your parents were offered and accepted the job on rather short notice, you were left with friends at the airport for the day, so Antolin told me.  
  
"The rest of the story you know, for the most part. The plane crashed, killing all on board. What wasn't printed in the muggle papers, for obvious reasons, was that it was highly suspected that servants of the Dark Lord had apparated onto the plane long enough to kill everyone and send it crashing into the ocean, securing that Espiritu would withdraw their aid, which they did. For the ministry's part, I was the only one to write a letter. They were so grieved by their own losses they didn't think of the loss of the most powerful and most promising mages the school possessed. The letter you hold was written to you both because by that time you were in the custody of Antolin, and while you had lost your parents, he had lost a protégée that was like a son to him."  
  
Dumbledore sighed and looked at his audience.  
  
Lucy shook her head. "Why didn't the professor tell me about any of this?"  
  
"Because of your temper. You earned your master status Lucy, but you have yet to learn how to control your gifts when your emotions are out of control. That's how he knew you had the gifts, you know. He came to the airport to talk to the police and there you were, across the hall in the Unified Airlines office, lying in a play pen, screaming at the top of your lungs. And as you did it the toys in your crib were shaking and the mobile was spinning around like mad. It was one of the few things he had yet to finish training you in when he sent you here, and he warned me about it. It was why I wanted you to take that reading in my presence, so I could make sure you didn't hurt yourself."  
  
Ron glared at her. "And you wouldn't have been able to hurt anyone else that way either."  
  
Lucy balled her hands into fists and shot Ron the Look of A Thousand Deaths. He hadn't spoken to her since the day things went out of control, and she refused to speak to him until he apologized.  
  
Dumbledore clucked his tongue. "Still at it I see? Well, I'm sure you two will deal with things in their own time. But, for the sake of argument, who exactly was hurt by Lucy's little outburst?"  
  
"Well, umm, Seamus was-"  
  
"From what I understand Mr. Finnegan is in excellent health."  
  
"Yes, but she, well he's…"  
  
"Thank you for enlightening us Mr. Weasley. Now, Mr. Potter, as to your problem."  
  
Harry looked up, Remus Lupin was looking at him intently.  
  
"Harry, if you could go over your dream again for us…."  
  
Dumbledore nodded, "This might be a good time for the rest of the party to wait outside. Lucy, if you need any further explanation I will be available afterwards."  
  
Lucy nodded quietly. She got up and left the room with Hermione and Ron, a little lost in thought.  
  
Hermione and Ron were walking a little ahead of her, as they rounded a corner first Hermione slapped him in the back of the head.  
  
"Ow! Hey, what was that for?"  
  
"You know Ron, sometimes you can be a real jerk."  
  
"What…"  
  
"Look, its gone far enough. You're one of my best friends but you're acting like a complete idiot. So be a man for the first time in your life an apologize."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Listen, put yourself in her shoes, she doesn't need this from you right now."  
  
"Fine, fine."  
  
Hermione smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "Good, I'll see you in the common room."  
  
She trotted down the hall as Lucy rounded the corner.  
  
"Where's she going so fast."  
  
Ron took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. "I over reacted and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things about you, I was wrong."  
  
Lucy shrugged. "You thought you were protecting her. You do know I'd never hurt any of you guys, don't you?"  
  
He nodded sheepishly. "I was just-"  
  
"Scared and didn't want to look like it in front of Hermione?"  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
Lucy grinned, "Well, I can read people's minds…."  
  
"You-"  
  
"Calm down lover boy, a blind person could have spotted this one a mile away."  
  
"So we're ok now?"  
  
Lucy nodded, "Perfecto." She turned down the hallway and they walked together in silence back to the common room.  
  
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"I hate this game."  
  
"You're not trying."  
  
"It makes no sense anyway. In what universe can a castle move- ow!" Lucy had just been stabbed, by her own rook. She sucked at the injured finger and glared at the piece. As her eyes moved to the board an evil smile crept over her face and she picked the rook up carefully and moved it two squares forward.  
  
"Uh Lucy-"  
  
"Quiet."  
  
"But Lucy, if you move it there-"  
  
"Shut up please, I'm teaching a valuable lesson here."  
  
Harry sighed and watched as the unfortunate rook was mauled quite viciously by his knight and dragged to the side of the board. Lucy grinned at it.  
  
"You are going to be sacrificed in every game until you learn some manners."  
  
Ron sighed, "Well, now that you have learned how to lose with precision…."  
  
"Forget it, I will never understand this game, it's hopeless."  
  
Hermione looked at her watch. "We really ought to get to bed, you know."  
  
Harry began to clean up the board, Ron helped Hermione with a staggering pile of books, Lucy remained in her chair. Harry and Hermione exchanged a look.  
  
"Lucy, are you all right?"  
  
Lucy nodded without turning her head, staring out the window at the forest. Something was bothering her about that place… "I'm fine, could you send Seamus out though, if he's done with his Herbology essay?"  
  
Harry nodded. "G'Night Lucy."  
  
"Night Harry."  
  
Fifteen minutes later she heard the sound of bare feet padding down the stairs. Seamus didn't like slippers, she kept telling him he was going to catch his death…  
  
"Luce?"  
  
She turned and looked up at him. Either his empathy was getting more acute or he was just better at reading her faces, because he pulled her up into a standing position and wrapped his arms around her. Then he pulled another chair up close to hers and leaned over the arm, looking her straight in the eye.  
  
"Go ahead, tell me everything."  
  
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"So where did she say she was going?" Ron shrugged off his sweater as they walked down into Hogsmeade, the weather was uncharacteristically warm and a pleasant sign that spring was on its way. Hermione had already done the same, Seamus hadn't worn a sweater to begin with, and Lavender was too fond of her new one to take it off. Besides, she wanted to look pretty in front of Dean, her latest victim. Harry was talking more with Professor Lupin, who had a letter for him from Sirius, and had told Hermione and Ron he would meet them later at the Shrieking Shack.  
  
"She wanted to talk more to Dumbledore about what the two Espiritu wizards were working on, and what the Death Eaters could possibly already know about her school from the visits those people made before her parents died."  
  
"And that's going to take a whole afternoon?"  
  
"Well, you know Lucy, she likes to be thorough."  
  
"I still think she's avoiding us."  
  
"Ron!"  
  
"Well she is. I mean, she spends so much time off by herself, and then when she is around she's, well, you know, distracted. It's like she's not really here."  
  
Hermione sighed and looked to Seamus for some help.  
  
Seamus shrugged, "I think she's just feeling torn right now is all. I mean, it's the same way you or I would feel if You-Know-Who started attacking our towns and homes, and a little bit magnified because she's so cut off right now. Not to mention she blames herself for it-"  
  
Hermione's head snapped in his direction, "What?"  
  
He nodded. "God knows I've been trying to talk sense into her, but being here all this time and only now finding out that the people who are doing this are from here, she feels like she should have figured it out sooner. She's a perfectionist Hermione, you know that. And being the only one left behind has made her absolutely obsessed, feels like its all on her shoulders now."  
  
Hermione shook her head, "She has that whole Circle of Whatever to look after things, she should know-"  
  
"Don't tell me that, I've already told her. But I just sort of let it drop the past couple of days. I mean, while she's here she can't do anything crazy or hurt herself, and she should pull herself out of it in a couple of days."  
  
Hermione nodded, "She'd have pulled herself out a lot sooner if Faustas was around, he was pretty good at not letting her wallow in her problems."  
  
Seamus nodded, Ron shrugged. "Just as long as she doesn't haul us all off into the forest to try and look for him again, Harry says she still brings that up a lot. She's been a lot more keen on going in there in the past few weeks."  
  
Hermione looked up, so did Seamus. She stared at Ron, "Really? She hasn't mentioned anything to me about it."  
  
Ron shrugged and held open the door to Honeydukes. "Well, she wouldn't, would she? Not only would both of you try to stop her, neither of you has an invisibility cloak."  
  
He made straight for the side wall that held "New Delicacies" and the conversation was ended. 


	27. Chapter 27: Dum de Dum Dum DUM!

Chapter Twenty Seven: Dum de Dum Dum DUM!  
  
The Circle had not answered her letter yet. Well, in a way they had, just not to her satisfaction. They gave no explanation for not informing her before she went to Hogwarts or even after the attacks began that people from her school had been there so recently. That had been "Espiritu's private business" and they claimed no responsibility for it. Typical cryptic aging adepts.  
  
If Faustas were here he would tell her what she needed to know. As it was, there was probably, or at least there probably had been some information back home, but now she had no idea what was left. At any rate she would most likely have to wait until summer to get back home and check it out, and who knew what could happen before then. As Hermione had informed her, things had a habit of heating up around here towards the end of term.  
  
She wouldn't be so restless if that forest wasn't becoming more and more unsettling with each passing day. She didn't know what was out there, but what if it was Faustas? What if he was trying to get through to her? She couldn't just ignore the feeling in her gut. Something funny was going on, and if it was Faustas she should go to him, and if it wasn't Faustas… well if it wasn't then something was very wrong.  
  
No matter what, it hinged on her getting into that forest. She didn't know how she would do it. She preferred not to go in there at night, but in daylight she would need Harry's cloak. And if he wouldn't give it to her… She sighed. She wasn't really a dishonest person, but this was an extreme case. She'd borrow it, during a Quidditch match maybe, when he was nice and busy and hopefully she wouldn't have to stay too long and could return it before he was ever the wiser to it being gone.  
  
She sighed and looked out the window again. It was late, and she was sitting in the common room, careful to shield her restlessness this time so not to wake up Seamus. She liked the quiet. And this, well, it just wasn't something she could talk about with Seamus, which was rare. It was strange, like having half of yourself being somewhere else all the time, feeling hollow inside…. it wasn't anything that all of the tears in the world were going to be able to fill, and she didn't want Seamus to think that he wasn't helping, he was, but he didn't exactly realize she had lost more than a family or a home, there was a huge part of her heart, her sense of self, her identity bound up with that place, and she didn't feel complete anymore. Fixing that hinged on finding her guardian and moving from there. If it took her the rest of her life, she was going to get her family back. A life of this hollowness was no life at all.  
  
She didn't know how long she sat, but the moon was high when she took herself off to bed, to lie back down and watch Seamus' Christmas present slowly rotating above her bed.  
  
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Snapes class had been forever altered for Lucy ever since she heard about his sacrificing Espiritu to save his cover. Under school rules of course, she could never take action against a teacher, but tensions ran high between the two every day. Neville was somewhat relieve, taking advantage of the temporary lapse in Snape's attentions two manage getting through two classes in a row once without melting anything.  
  
Lucy was harped on, of course, more than usual, along with plenty of baiting comments. It was as if Snape wanted her to give him an excuse to punish her. She didn't care. The man had been a Death Eater, he was in that respect responsible for the death of her parents as well as the loss of her home. He could burn in hell for all she cared and to the devil with who knew she felt that way. She openly stared at him in hatred, to the point where Seamus had to elbow her to control herself because he was starting to pick up on her emotions themselves.  
  
This afternoon was no exception. The pre-lab lecture was on lightening potions, designed to make the object applied to as light as a feather. Before letting them go Snape had made a low comment about testing the potions at the end of class.  
  
As the hour wound down they were instructed to bring their potions to the front of the room, where several large, oversized cauldrons stood in a row on the floor.  
  
"Now," Snape glared down at his students, "We will see whether any of you possess the pitifully few brain cells required to complete this spell properly." He scanned the room, his gaze resting on Neville's lumpy pink potion, everyone else's was somewhat smoother and a more purplish color. Neville gulped, it appeared his reprieve had come to an end.  
  
"Neville Longbottom, coat the inside of the cauldron with your… creation, and sit down."  
  
Neville nerviously did so. The students looked at each other apprehensively, if Neville blew up that much iron they had better be ready to duck under their desks.  
  
Snape muttered something and pointed his wand at the cauldron, but it didn't move. It was painfully obvious Neville's potion had failed, the cauldron was as heavy as a house. But Snape wasn't done, his gaze swung to the back of the room where Lucy met his stare with a look that made Harry's skin crawl. Snape smiled.  
  
"Hmmm, seems that you haven't made it as light as it should be, no surprise there Mr. Longbottom. However,let us try again, Lucy Montero, if you can manage your wand that is, raise the cauldron and move it to the other side of the room." Snape indicated the wall behind him.  
  
Lucy felt the heat rising to her face. It wasn't fair, the cauldron was as heavy as ever and no leviosa spell was designed to manage it; he was trying to humiliate her and she didn't have to read his thoughts to know it. Smugness was rolling off of him like and unpleasant odor, and a glance at Seamus showed he was bothered by it as well.  
  
She took a deep breath, collected herself, and stood up. That murderer was not going to get the better of her. She closed her eyes for a moment to gather the energies beneath her and reached for the cauldron, it was heavy, but not as much as the buffalo she had had to lift to pass her practical three summers ago, and this thing wasn't struggling. She didn't allow herself to smile, but this was going to be fun.  
  
She raised her wand to make it look convincing and using her best swish and flick technique, commanded, "Cauldronan Leviosa". Simultaneously she used her telekinesis to raise the cauldron six feet in the air and after saying "Reaccio" sent it flying away from her towards the wall, smashing into the stone a foot from Snape's head and dropping to the floor with a clang.  
  
"Oh, I don't know professor, it seems light enough to me." Under Hermione's horrified gaze she set her jaw and took her seat. Snape was fuming.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"Ten to one she ends up in the hospital wing."  
  
"Honestly Ron, he wouldn't kill her, Harry?  
  
  
  
"I dunno Hermione, I mean, after she told him last week that she would rather try and save someone who had been bitten by a snake the 'old fashioned' way rather than 'standing by and watching them die' while looking for monkshood beetle wings, I don't think he's too happy with her."  
  
"Well, he did take her to Dumbledore this time…"  
  
"Which is either very very good, or incredibly bad."  
  
"You don't think she'll be expelled do you?"  
  
"For trying to smash open the skull of the Potions Master with an iron cauldron? Oh no, I'm sure they only assign a two foot essay on the medicinal values of bats droppings for that. You'd have to kill him to be expelled, honestly Hermione! She's in deep and what's more, she wants to be! You saw her, she ENJOYED it! When it comes to Snape she doesn't think straight, she just wants to hurt him, a lot, you could see it in her eyes."  
  
Hermione's brow wrinkled in worry. "They couldn't expel her, could they? I mean, where would she go?"  
  
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"So it seems you have been spending a great deal of time in the dungeons, Miss Montero."  
  
"Not of my choosing, sir."  
  
"Oh, but it appears it is of your own choosing, my dear. You must have known that you would be punished for your behavior in Professor Snape's class."  
  
"It was a means to an end."  
  
"What end is that?"  
  
Lucy remained silent.  
  
Dumbledore sighed and walked to the window, still speaking without turning around.  
  
"I had not expected to see you here so many times this year, Lucy."  
  
"I hadn't expected a great many things that happened this year, headmaster, that didn't stop them from happening now, did it?"  
  
"Is that why you are trying to get expelled from this school?"  
  
Lucy turned her head sharply. "Who said I was trying to get expelled?"  
  
"You had a fine behavior report for most of the first term, but lately, lately it seems you cannot get through a potions lesson without incident, being insubordinate, violent…" he looked at her intently.  
  
"So the question remains, why are you trying to be thrown out of school?"  
  
Lucy shrugged, "I'm not."  
  
"Then why the sudden change in behavior?"  
  
"Because this may be my only chance."  
  
"For what?  
  
"To fulfill my responsibility."  
  
"What responsibility?"  
  
"To my family, to my school. They were betrayed and murdered by someone who knew what was going to happen and could have stopped it, but didn't. Whose prejudice and bigotry led to the deaths of eleven people and the loss of over a hundred. As the last remaining member I owe it to my mentor and my best friend to do what I can within the bonds of this school."  
  
Dumbledore raised his eyebrow. "And when you are no longer in this school?"  
  
Lucy's normally warm and laughing eyes had an uncharacteristic coldness and metal to them. "Then what I do will be my own business. I think it suffices to say that Professor Snape," she spit out the words like a foul tasting medicine, "deserves far more than what he is complaining about."  
  
Dumbledore decided to alter the trend of the conversation. "Lucy, this acting out is hardly going to help you in coming years. Remember you still have Professor Snape for Potions for another two years, this behavior is not going to help you later on."  
  
Lucy shook her head. "It won't have to sir."  
  
Dumbledore gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean?"  
  
Lucy gave a half hearted laugh. "I mean that I was here on a scholarship provided by my school, now there is no school. I know for a fact my parents didn't leave me nearly enough money to pay for this place, for supplies and all, the little that Espiritu had went into the Circle's efforts to repair it, and well, lets face it, after hearing about the whole plan to throw them to the dogs, there's no way any other schools would sponsor me here. It's over, headmaster. At the end of the term I'm gone and I won't be coming back."  
  
So that's what this was, he thought to himself. He now recognized the increasingly violent and dangerous incidents as the actions of someone who had nothing left to lose. And she was right, her family was gone so she needn't fear their disapproval, and she wasn't coming back so she had no need to play along anymore. Lucy Montero had had enough, and she was screaming as loudly as she could.  
  
It also made her just about impossible to reason with. Unless…. well that would take some time to look into.  
  
Dumbledore sighed. "I am sorry to hear about that Lucy, I was unaware that the Circle would not continue to fund your study here…. however, regardless of what the future may bring, I cannot allow you to continue to act like this in class. Someone could have been hurt."  
  
"I was in complete control-"  
  
"I'm sure you were, but if you had been distracted or interrupted, you could have lost control. Not to mention that such displays cause imitation and any… wild behavior in a room full of the sorts of things that fill a potions lab makes for a very serious threat. And I will not endanger the students of this school. Am I understood?"  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
"Good, I have spoken with both Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall and it seems the best course of action is to place you in the sixth form potions class for the remainder of the term. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have it in the mornings during your Care of Magical Creatures class. You can switch and take that in the afternoon with the fifth year Ravenclaws during your former potions lesson period. It is the hopes of everyone involved that the accelerated pace of the class will keep you too busy to arrange any more, theatrics, shall we say? You will, of course, need to cover the rest of the material being taught to the fifth year students in your free time, as you will still be taking the fifth year exam at the end of term. Are we understood?'  
  
Lucy nodded.  
  
"That will be all then Lucy, and don't take this the wrong way, but I hope very much not to have to speak with you again until the end of term, hmm?"  
  
Lucy understood and nodded before taking herself out of the office.  
  
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"The sixth year class? But I've been trying to get McGonagall to put me in higher level classes for years, and she never would!"  
  
"It's not a prize it's a punishment Hermione! I won't know any of the procedures or anyone in the class and I'll most likely end up melting things like Neville. Not to mention that I'll also be taking Care of Magical Creatures with complete strangers to boot."  
  
Harry tried to give her an encouraging smile, "We'll talk to Hagrid, make sure he looks out for you."  
  
"If only you hadn't gone and tried to kill Snape…"  
  
"Now there's something I never thought I'd hear anyone say."  
  
Lucy smiled.  
  
"Lucy, you're not really going to try and kill him, are you? I mean, what you said to the headmaster…"  
  
"Like I said to the headmaster, Hermione, that is my business. One thing is for sure, even if we do find a way to bring them back, I will hate that man until the day I die."  
  
"At least you'll be in good company then. I mean honestly, the look on his face!"  
  
Fred and George paused by the sofa where they were having their conversation.  
  
"The look on who's face? Did someone play a joke?"  
  
"Nothing as good as one of ours, I hope?"  
  
"Oh yes, I'd hate to think we'd graduate without our distinction as the reigning kings of comedy."  
  
"Dukes of disaster."  
  
"Princes of pranks."  
  
"Enough," groaned Ron. "Lucy just tried to kill Snape that's all."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Pulled one on Snape did you?"  
  
"Was it deliciously good?"  
  
"She tried to flatten him with a cauldron." Ron re-capped the dialogue and what had happened. Fred and George looked at each other a glowed in approval.  
  
"You know, we were right, we really have been a bad influence on you." Fred draped his arm over George's shoulder, who pretended to wipe away a tear.  
  
"We're so proud."  
  
"Are you guys coming?" Lee Jordan shouted across the room from where he was waiting by the portrait hole, holding a large and lumpy looking pillow case, with two more at his feet.  
  
George sighed, "Well, duty calls, Quidditch game this weekend, need to start setting up."  
  
Fred nodded, "A masters work is never done. Anyway, good show Lucy, Yankee Doodle, and er, God Save the President and all that, see you guys later!"  
  
Harry shook his head, "I don't think we even want to know what that was all about."  
  
Ron nodded, but he was grinning, "We're playing Slytherin, this should be good."  
  
Lucy gathered her books up, "I'd better go get to work, I might not be in class, but I'm not exempt from the four foot essay he assigned for Monday, so I'd better get to the library."  
  
Hermione nodded, "I'm headed there too."  
  
Ron snorted in disgust. "Well you two certainly are a bunch of fun."  
  
"Why don't you play another game of demonic chess? Feel free to use my pieces and punish the gods be damned rook all you like, see you later!"  
  
Harry decided to work on his herbology assignment, leaving Ron to sulk in peace.  
  
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With the exception of almost dying, potions with the sixth years was the most horrible experience Lucy had ever been forced to endure. It could have been worse, they could have been Slytherins, but it was bad enough as it was. The ingredients to forever to prepare, but if you took too long they dried up and you had to start all over again; you had to brew things for exactly two minutes and if you were off by so much as 10 seconds, you had to do it all over again. Precision appeared to be the focus of the sixth year curriculum, Lucy thought the focus was 'do it over again.' And since Snape seemed to think that as part of the class she ought to complete the assigned essays as well as the fifth year work, she was up to her ears in work every night.  
  
Which is why she should have been sound asleep Friday evening after the first week of her new schedule, but she couldn't. She had a horrible feeling, and after much tossing and turning, had just gotten to sleep when her eyes snapped open.  
  
Someone had opened a Gate nearby, very nearby.  
  
Stop, she told herself. That's impossible, Dumbledore told you himself.  
  
But that didn't change the fact that it had happened, she was sure of it. The sound resonated in her brain, it had been as if someone had cracked a whip sharply inside her head. And now that it was open, it was simply a matter of dropping her mental shields to find it.  
  
The forest. She knew it, there had always been something wrong in that forest.  
  
As quickly and quietly as she could she got out of bed and put on her pants, shirt, and Espiritu robes. After lacing her boots she grabbed her wand, pausing a moment to wonder when that had become an instinct of hers, and as an afterthough slid the wallet with the two mirrors into her pocket. Her masters ring was on her finger, she was as ready as she would ever be.  
  
Not wanting to wake the girls, she went down to the common room. She opened a large window, and examined the climb down with a trained eye. Window ledges were all she had on this side of the tower, but if she could move around to the left the wall would connect to the main body of the castle, and that should provide more climbing assistance. She took a deep breath and tried to pretend like it was all just another lesson in hovering precision, and stepped out the window.  
  
She reached the safety of the main castle, which gave her more turrets and eaves to move between, requiring less powerful hovering, which could be exhausting. She clung onto the stone with teeth and toenails and let herself drop the last three feet to the ground, where she lay for several mintues recovering both her nerves and her strength. Then she set out for the forest.  
  
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"Ahhhhhhhh!" Harry sat straight up in bed, his scar aflame, his body soaking with sweat. In the next moments he saw the lights outside his curtains flare up, and Ron's worried face nearly ripping the curtain off his bed in his haste to check him.  
  
"Harry? Are you ok? What happened?"  
  
Harry shook his head as Dean handed him some water. "You're shaking Harry, what is it?"  
  
"I don't know." But as he said it he realized he did. Voldemort, here, or somewhere very close, doing something awful…  
  
It was then that the door flew open and Hermione, clad only in a rather flimsy nightgown still trying to get one arm in her robe, dashed into the room.  
  
"Harry?"  
  
"He's all right Herminoe," Ron blushed a bit as he hurried over and drew her robe around her.  
  
"Oh please I can do it myself." She looked irritated as she roughly tied the sash, but relieved Harry wasn't being murdered.  
  
Harry looked up and Dean and Neville. "Go back to bed, really, I'm fine, just a bad dream. But Ron, Hermione, I think I would like to talk to you about something outside."  
  
It didn't escape Ron or Hermione's notice that as he said this he reached into his pillow case and pulled out a silvery bundle, and that he put on his shoes and not his slippers, although hi didn't tie them, trying to make it look as if he had just thrown on whatever was available. Ron discretely got his shoes and a sweater and followed him out.  
  
"Voldemort? Are you sure?"  
  
"It has to be," Harry was tying his shoes. "He's here, or he's sent someone, but they're really near by."  
  
"We should get Dumbledore."  
  
"We don't have any proof Hermione. My scar has been hurting all year, and me telling Dumbledore hasn't stopped him from killing a lot of people, not to mention burning schools and god knows what else."  
  
"So what are we going to do?"  
  
"We're going to get Sirius."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I got an owl from him last week he was going to be headed this way, he should be near by now, and Hedwig can find him faster than anyone else."  
  
"And while we wait?"  
  
"It shouldn't take long."  
  
"Let me get my shoes." Hermione headed towards the stairs to her room, only to see Seamus coming down them.  
  
"Seamus Finnegan what HAVE you been doing!"  
  
Seamus raised an eyebrow, "You ok Harry?"  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
Hermione was still staring at him with her hands on her hips, the prefect in her putting all eminent danger and evil lords aside at the thought of a young man sneaking into HER dormitory in the middle of the night.  
  
"Relax Hermione, everyone was back to sleep, everyone that is, except you and Lucy."  
  
"Lucy? She's awake?"  
  
"Either that or she's sleep walking, she's gone."  
  
"What? Where? How?"  
  
Seamus managed a grin and strode across the room. "She's gone, my guess would be the forest, and as to how…" he glances around the outer wall, "My guess is gonna be the window."  
  
Hermione's eyes could not have gotten any bigger.  
  
Harry shook his head. "You have any idea as to why?"  
  
Seamus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I'm guessing that she felt the same loud crack in her head as I did, I'd say about ten minutes before you started screaming. Since I figured you ladies would be up, I went to ask her about it, and she was gone."  
  
"You think it came from the forest?"  
  
Seamus shrugged, "I dunno, but she's had a funny feeling about that place, kinda makes sense that any strange stuff would come from there."  
  
Harry groaned. "Now what do we do?"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "If you really think its him Harry, we can't just let her walk into that alone."  
  
Seamus gave him a look. "Who?"  
  
Ron gave Seamus an uncomfortable look, Seamus understood, but he didn't like it.  
  
"HIM! He's out there and Lucy is taking a stroll through the woods?"  
  
"Not exactly your ideal situation."  
  
Hermione turned to Harry. "Can we fit four under that cloak?" 


	28. Chapter 28: Holy Rusted Metal Batman!

Chapter Twenty Eight: Holy Rusted Metal Batman!  
  
A squirrel darted out in front of her and began to chatter loudly and angrily at her. Lucy fixed with a stare.  
  
**BE QUIET!**  
  
The squirrel scurried back up into the tree branches where it continued to watch her warily, but silently.  
  
Something was definitely in here. It wasn't far now…  
  
She thought she heard voices, and darted behind a tree, but she couldn't see anyone. Nonetheless, she made her way from tree to tree, stalking further into the forest, closer to whatever it was that was making such a racket in her head.  
  
She'd travled for a good thirty minutes, backtracking repeatedly, when her mouth fell open at what she saw in the clearing ahead.  
  
A gate, but not a normal gate, was glowing in the middle of the clearing. She had never seen anything like it. It was a stone archway that appeared to be anciant, glowing, but a glance with the Sight showed that the energies flowing through the gate were abnormal. Gates fed off the energies of the person who made them, but these energies weren't tied to a person, they were anchored in an energy sink deep below ground, directly under the gate, and they led… she tried to follow the energy trail, and did, too simply. They led directly to a sink under the matching gate on the other side! This wasn't right, this was a gate anyone could operate, with a little knowledge, and virtually no skill.  
  
Her thoughts drifted back to a rainy afternoon in the Congo, when the professor had been giving them a history lesson. But it had been hot and sticky and she had been drowsy…. what was it?….  
  
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"Finally!"  
  
They reached the relative safety of the forest and spilled out from under the cloak. They'd virtually crawled to fit every one, but they had made it without running into Peeves, Filch, or Mrs. Norris.  
  
"Do you think we should get Hagrid?" Hermione looked over at his cabin.  
  
Harry was torn, "We'll get him if things get out of hand, right now lets just get Lucy and figure this out somewhere safer."  
  
"I really, really don't like this place."  
  
"Ewww, what was that?"  
  
"Shhhhh."  
  
They made there way into the forest, looking for any sign of Lucy.  
  
"This is hopeless, how are we going to find her."  
  
"Did you hear that?"  
  
They paused, something was making a soft footfall on the underbrush. Something with more than two legs.  
  
Harry spun around, and saw a centaur emerge from the brush. Hermione covered Seamus' mouth with her hand to keep him from screaming in shock.  
  
"No good insulting him now, is it?" She whispered.  
  
But of all of them, the centaur looked the most relieved.  
  
"Harry Potter, I am very glad to see you, and at the same time very unhappy."  
  
Harry waited, knowing these folk took some time to get to the point.  
  
"I am happy that I found you and not something else. And unhappy that you are here."  
  
Ron looked apprehensive, "Why? We didn't mean to-"  
  
"It is nothing you have done, youngling. But it is not safe. The animals are talking, there is something evil in the forest, and it appears it is calling more evil things to it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Long had I felt the unrest, and not known what it was, and then it emerged, tonight, out of its silence. And now the animals speak of a small one in human form who walks alone in the forest and can invade their very minds."  
  
The four students looked at each other. Seamus piped up nervously.  
  
"What did it do?"  
  
The centaur looked a little uncertain. "Apparantly, it told them to Be Quiet, and if they persisted it threatened to dye them purple. I was looking for this evil one when I found you."  
  
They looked at each other and nodded. "Lucy."  
  
The centaur raised its eyebrow. "Lucy? What is this Lucy? Is it evil?"  
  
Ron put his chin in his hand. "Is Lucy evil? Well…." He pretended to be thinking very hard.  
  
Harry elbowed him in the ribs. "No, she's not evil, just highly opinionated and impatient."  
  
"And a bit of an untrained barbarian." Ron added. Hermione slapped him upside the head. "Well, she is!"  
  
"Actually, she came in here because she felt a disturbance too, she's probably looking for the same thing you are."  
  
The centaur pondered that for a long time. The rest of them shifted impatiently.  
  
"Do you know where she is?" Seamus asked hopefully.  
  
It pulled itself out of thought and nodded. "I was following the sightings the animals spoke of. Follow me this way."  
  
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"Now, gating is very energy inefficient. It requires either heavy reserves or access to an established resevoir. Tapping an existing energy line is also an option, although that won't help you if you are traversing the gate, you won't be able to maintain that connection over the distance, so if you chose that method be sure you are familiar with energy flow patterns on the other side."  
  
Marie had spoken up.  
  
"Can you gate anywhere?"  
  
Professor de La Vega had shaken his head. "Not directly. In order to place your gate terminus, you must have a perfect picture in you head of where you are going. So, in practice, you really can't make a gate somewhere you have never been before. A way of circumventing that is the use of mirrors, if you have an open connection with the place first, and can place your gate through the use of the mirror, then you should be able to establish the connection, especially if there is someone on the side to mentally pull you towards them. But remember, two connections means that your resources will be drained twice as fast, so you had better be very good at what you are doing."  
  
Diego had sat up from where Lucy had though he had been napping with his head in her lap. "Are there any loopholes in that?" She grinned, Diego always looked for a way out.  
  
The professor grinned as well. "Actually, there were. There was a unification of sorts of magics around the year 235 AD. Most magics, especially the Egyptian and Aztec, had long been set by then, but ideas were transferred in a project set forth from Maccu Picchu. It was around this time that the Proto Gates were made."  
  
Aislan shook her head, "Proto Gates?"  
  
"Ancient gates, made in a special and very specific way known only to the three individuals, Adepts many times over, who worked on them. Everything, the stone they were made from, the configuration, the energy sources, was entirely new, and, once activated, could be self-sustaining. They were set up in pairs, because if the gate was to self-sustain, the terminus had to be perminant. I think there were about 20 pairs in all, but their use was discontinued only about 200 years later."  
  
"Why so soon?"  
  
"They decided it was too dangerous. Despite the convenience of regular gating, no one really wanted strangers to be able to come into their homes uninvited. Standard gating at least limited visitors to those who had seen the place before, friends, in other words."  
  
"Did they destroy the gates?"  
  
Her mentor had sighed and shaken his head. "They couldn't, not without great difficulty. Once they set them up, they sustained themselves. In a sense, they would have had to fight the gates to destroy them. No, they simply turned them off and tried to hide or place illusions on them as best they could. Everyone knew it was in their best interests to leave them alone, and the local schools usually kept a sort of watch over them, in case anyone tried to turn them back on."  
  
"Can they still be activated?"  
  
"I suppose, if one knew where to look and how to do it. It's usually something physical, actually, people who live around magic tend to look for magical solutions to their problems, and often avoid the obvious. Normally a small slab of stone to be turned around, or slid back into place, nothing much to it."  
  
"So anyone really could turn it on and walk right into the middle of a school."  
  
"I suppose, although, these were ancient, most of the remaining structures aren't even close to a community anymore, the world has changed so. And not for the better, I shudder to think what would have happened if they hadn't been turned off, it would have given anyone who knew their whereabouts a great deal of power."  
  
Lucy's fingers dug into the bark of the tree. "Dios mio," she breathed. A Proto Gate, at Hogwarts? Stranger things had happened… they must have built the school and all of its magical protections right around it, never even knowing what it was. But someone knew now. That thing had been dormant for a while, but someone was starting to fiddle around. The question was whether or not they had already come through.  
  
What was she going to do? Well, close it, idiota, that's what you are going to do. Close it before they come through. Unless they are already here, in which case you are going to trap them here, with you and a school full of children, not to mention a stone's throw away from Harry…damn it all, she couldn't be two places at once.  
  
Carefully she approached the gate and studied the ground around it… she swore under her breath and retreated back to the tree and then scrambled up into the branches. Well, that answered one question, they were already here all right, four or five of them.  
  
She heard a noise behind her and turned to look down, only to find herself looking directly into the eyes of a man with the body of a horse. She was so shocked and scared she went to back up and fell right off the branch.  
  
Seamus caught her with ease, putting a finger across her lips. "Don't worry, I did the same thing," he whispered, "he's a friend. He won't hurt you… well, not now that we've convinced him you're not evil."  
  
She was about to ask a question when the strange beast turned and dissapeered.  
  
"He's gone for the others," Harry explained. It was then that he glanced at Hermione, who was staring at the glowing stone structure.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"That," Lucy sighed, "is a whole lot of trouble."  
  
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"You're sure they'll be back?"  
  
Lucy nodded, "Gating is very disorienting, I followed there track enough to know they were probably wandering around dizzy and sick. If they plan on doing anything, they won't try until they re-group, probably back here. And with the guys making plenty of noise to draw them here, that should happen faster."  
  
"So when they come back-"  
  
"They won't be expecting us. We'll stun them and shove them back through the gate. Then all we have to do is close it."  
  
"And how do we do that?"  
  
Lucy pointed to a small rectangular piece of stone that seemed to be affixed horizontally across the right hand beam of the arch. "This should be the doorknob of sorts. You turn it clockwise a quarter turn, and push in, it should slide back into the gap and seal the gate. You could even do it from farther away, you have enough wand control to turn it and push it back, right?"  
  
Hermione nodded. All they had to do was wait and let whomever it was chase Harry, Ron, and Seamus while the girls worked on gate. Lucy wanted to know where it led first, before they sent the strangers back. She wanted to be able to notify the Circle immediately. With Hermione standing watch and the boys ready, she sat in front of the gate, trying to calm the surface of her minds and follow the energy to its second source. But the minute she touched it, she just got flung back, the gate didn't want her meddling. That wasn't right, these things weren't supposed to act like that. She gathered her energy and tried again, and again.  
  
Ron was hopping back and forth as he waited. "I don't like this Harry, I don't think we should just leave Lucy and Hermione there."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "You know very well that Hermione could knock you through a wall and back, what are you going to do that she can't?"  
  
Ron shrugged, "I still don't like it. Seamus do you-"  
  
He paused, the boys all peered into the darkness of the forest, someone was coming.  
  
Ron ran back through the trees, "Are you girls ready yet?"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "Lucy needs more time, just run them around in circles or something, they won't be able to resist trying to get Harry anyway. And they won't be able to see Seamus up in the trees waiting to hex them if something goes wrong."  
  
Ron shook his head and trotted back to Harry, "Get ready to run, old chap."  
  
Out of the darkness emerged four Death Eaters, cloaks and all. As Harry took a step in the crunchy underbrush, they saw him, but not before Harry saw them. "Expelleramus!" With a word the Death Eaters wands were in Harry and Ron's hands, and they were off.  
  
"Which… way?" Ron panted as they wove through the trees, closer to the gate.  
  
"They have to be done by now, towards the clearing," Harry managed.  
  
"Hermione?" Ron yelled as they began to approach.  
  
"Not yet!" Hollered Lucy, who was now standing by the gate, examining it.  
  
That was when a funny thing happened. At the sound of Lucy's voice the Death Eaters stopped dead in their tracks. Harry and Ron had run quite a but further before they realized they were no longer being followed. They turned, to see the Death Eaters advancing silently back towards the clearing where Lucy and Hermione continued to work, unaware.  
  
"What the-?" Harry asked, but Ron had already taken off back through the trees. That was when one of the Death Eaters turned back and with a word the wands flew back out of the startled Harry's hands and back to those of there owners. Almost immediately afterwards "Expelleramus!" ripples through the forest and Hermione and Lucy suddenly became very aware of the fact that they were no longer alone.  
  
They were backing slowly away from the Death Eater who held Lucy and Hermione's wands in his fist, Harry saw out of the corner of his eye, Seamus dropping from his tree and heading back towards the clearing.  
  
Hermione gulped. "Lucy, we can't handle them all together…."  
  
"We need them to be split up."  
  
They continued to back away, waiting for a word from their attackers.  
  
"How 'bout me right, you left?"  
  
"Get them as lost as possible and hope that the centaurs find us?"  
  
"What else can we do?"  
  
Lucy nodded slightly. "Well then, on tres. Uno… dos.. tres!"  
  
Lucy leapt to the left and into the trees, hoping Hermione was a fast runner and took off.  
  
Hermione leapt to the right and began to run, and tripped on the root of a tree, sending her flying and hitting her head on a rock. She was dizzy and tried to get up as a shadowy figure advanced on her and raised its arm.  
  
Suddenly a form flew out of nowhere and tackled the figure from behind. Ron managed to toss Hermione and Lucy's wands out of the Death Eaters grasp before he was dealt a blow to the head and thrown onto a rock. Hermione screamed, but the stranger didn't seem interested anymore. He took his wand and ran off into the forest.  
  
Harry came pounding up to Hermione, who had pulled Ron's head into her lap. He was bleeding from a blow to his temple, bleeding a lot.  
  
"Hermione….Hermione stop crying and help me! I have to go help Lucy, you just got hit in the head and are in no position to run, but you pay attention in Herbology. Find some blood moss, it should be under some of the logs nearby and put it on his head. Stay here while I-"  
  
"Lucy!" Hermione's head snapped up. "Harry, they left you and chased…. they were never here to kill you….All that stuff about energy…. she's the only one who can work our magic and her own… all of Asriel's stuff… Harry they want to use her to access the power of Western Magic, they're here to take Lucy!"  
  
Harry looked at her, shocked and perplexed. But Hermione was now thinking clearly.  
  
"Go you idiot! You and Seamus! Hex them or something before they take her and disspeer!"  
  
She practically shoved him off in the direction of the chase before ripping her robes to make a temporary bandage for Ron and feeling about her for the blood moss.  
  
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Harry took off at top speed, following the noise, his energy bent single mindedly on the chase taking place ahead of him.  
  
Which is probably why he never noticed the Death Eater that stepped out of the path on his right until it was too late.  
  
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Lucy was starting to get tired. She had to dodge curses being flung at her by winding her way through the trees. Fortunately, she seemed to be losing them; she was now only pursued by one. She kept going, deciding the best thing to do would be to take him around in a big circle again and bring him back to the gate. One of the other four should be there to hex the fool and push him through before they worried about where the other three had ended up.  
  
"Somebody help!" She screamed as she entered the clearing. She stopped as she saw that all four of the others were there, each with a look of fear and horror on their faces, except for Ron, who was unconscious and laying with his head in Hermione's lap, blissfully unaware of the Death Eater that stood behind them, his wand pointed at Hermione's head in no uncertain manner. Harry and Seamus were standing rather too stiffly between two other Death Eaters, in a posture Lucy didn't indentify as a body bind. The fourth member of the party strolled out of the forest, looking very please with himself.  
  
Lucy backed up slowly, but there was nowhere to go. All that was behind her was the gate and the forest, and in front of her…. she never should have brought them into this, she should have sent them back the minute they found her in that tree.  
  
**Would have followed you any way**  
  
It came through faint and choppy, but Lucy looked up in astonishment to see Seamus staring at he, a small wrinkle between his eyebrows.  
  
If the situation hadn't been so dire she would have smiled.  
  
But something in that stuck. Follow. Follow, the Death Eaters had followed her, she realized now that she was what they had come for, the Last Espiritu. If she could get them to follow her again they'd have to release everyone else…  
  
"You might as well give up you know. Come with us and we'll let this one" he gave Seamus a rough shove, that with the body bind sent him to his knees, "and these two," the other guard gave Hermione a shove in the back with his knee, "Go free."  
  
"What about him?" Lucy nodded towards Harry.  
  
"Didn't expect him, but the master will be pleased to have him. The master will reward us greatly."  
  
As he talked, Hermione focused on the forest just behind him, where Ron had freed her wand and Hermione's. Using her telekinesis, she carefully slid them along the ground, until Hermione's was just under Ron's leg, out of sight, and hers was close under Seamus's knees, and only a little hop would send it into his hands. She fixed Hermione with a stare, Hermione carefully moved her gaze down to Ron's leg and back in a split second, and nodded imperceptibly.  
  
She needed more time, keep the man talking. "What do you want me for?"  
  
"For a great and glorious opportunity to serve the master. To be part of a history making advance. You should be honored."  
  
As he spoke, she tried to manage a very clear message to Seamus's delicate sense of telepathy with words.  
  
** If I managed to divert their attention, can you get them out of here? **  
  
** What are you going to do? ** She could here the concern in his mental voice. But there wasn't any time.  
  
** Can you?! **  
  
The answer came back in a frightened, ** Yes. **  
  
She took another step backwards, she had now back up all the way to the gate. She saw Hermione's eyes open wide in understanding, but Seamus was still confused.  
  
**Trust me? **  
  
**Always. **  
  
**Then have Hermione close the gate immediately after. **  
  
She raised her eyes to the fourth Death Eater, the one who had chased her in here.  
  
"I hope you'll understand if I don't exactly share your enthusiasm."  
  
He laughed, "Your feelings aren't of any importance in the matter. You will do what you're told."  
  
"And you,"  
  
She let her wand jump into Seamus's hand  
  
**Wait for it… **  
  
"Will have to catch me first."  
  
**Now! **  
  
With a giant mental tug she ripped their wands from the Death Eaters' hands, caught them, and without another word, mentally or spoken, she took another step back, over the threshold and through the gate, and vanished. 


	29. Chapter 29: Back to the Future

Chapter Twenty Nine: Back to the Future  
  
The Hail Mary worked, as the Death Eaters surged towards the gate in confusion, Hermione grabbed her wand and released Seamus as he used Lucy's wand to release Harry, and with the two boys carrying Ron, they were away into the trees before the Death Eaters remembered they had had captives.  
  
With Harry taking Ron back, Hermione and Seamus hung back in the trees, watching as one by one the Death Eaters shook off their shock and ran through after Lucy. After the last one had gone Seamus turned to Hermione.  
  
"Close it, now."  
  
Hermione looked at him in horror. "If we do she won't be able to get back!"  
  
Only to see the anger and frustration mirrored in his eyes. "Damnit I KNOW that!" It was killing him to do this but he knew he had to. He swallowed hard and looked up again, calmer this time. "And if we don't they could come right back in the next ten seconds and then what? She told me to Hermione, and I'm going to trust her."  
  
"She told you?"  
  
"Long story, now quick, before they come back!"  
  
Hermione didn't wait any longer, dropping from the tree and hitting the ground at a run she sprinted into the clearing and up to the gate. She found the rectangular stone, rotated it a quarter turn, it was now in line with the cavity beneath it, and pushed. Despite being almost two thousand years old, it slid back clean and smooth, and in an instant she felt disoriented, like how her stomach had felt on the roller coaster she had ridden the previous summer, a sort of lurching feeling, and then silence. Without the hum of the gate the clearing was silent, and the gate was no longer glowing. Just another old stone arch in the middle of a very strange forest.  
  
On an impulse Seamus tossed a stick through it, the stick landed with a soft crunch on the ground behind the gate.  
  
At Hermione's raised eyebrow he shrugged. "Just checking."  
  
Hermione stared at the arch. "Where do you think it took her?"  
  
Seamus shrugged, "I don't know, she hadn't figured that out by the time they came through?"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "She was close right when Harry brought them around again, but she didn't get a chance to tell me. I wonder how long it will take her to get back?"  
  
"If she comes back."  
  
"Seamus don't say that!"  
  
"No, no I didn't mean THAT. No, she'll be fine, its just that, well, she may not come back here. You know? No one's forcing her, she told me she won't have the funds to come next year anyway, maybe she'll just go to another school and take up there for a while. I mean, if she comes back she has lots more of sixth year potions and getting hawked on by Snape to look forward to."  
  
Hermione stared blankly. "Do you think she'll do that? Just stay away?"  
  
Seamus looked down at her, but he was grinning. "Nope."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
He shrugged. "Because bowing in the face of authority is decidedly not her style. She'll be back when she gets back. My guess is by breakfast. Now lets get to bed."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Hagrid met them close to the entrance and led them out of the forest to his cabin, where Ron was awake, groggy, disoriented and incoherent, but awake.  
  
"Wha' were ye thinkin' 'Arry? Goin' off in der without me?"  
  
Harry looked very uncomfortable. "We're really sorry Hagrid, we never meant to go in so far, and we wouldn't have stayed so long if Ron hadn't tripped and fallen in that ravine…" Harry was raising his eyebrows and giving them the 'just play along' look.  
  
Hermione nodded. "We're really sorry."  
  
Hagrid shook his head. "I would a though ye had more sense Hermione, but, well, I was a kid meself once. But next time ye play Truth er Dare ye set the boundaries first! Now, see if ye can get Ron here up to bed quietly. An, well, he coulda gotten a lump like that helping Harry with Quidditch. Now off!"  
  
Carefully bundling under the Invisibility cloak, the four returned to the safety of Gryffindor Tower as dawn crept over the horizon, thankful that the next day was Saturday.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
Lucy wasn't back by breakfast. Ron was in the hospital wing, and thankfully, Madam Pomfrey hadn't asked many questions. Hermione stayed with him, although she spent most of her time reading to him from her History of Magic notes, since she knew he was behind. Ron would have preferred on the whole a little less constructive distraction.  
  
Their escapade in the forest seemed to have gone unnoticed, luckily, and Harry slept until two in the afternoon without interruption.  
  
Seamus didn't sleep much of anything at all. He had sat up on a couch in the common room all night, had moved for breakfast this morning, but was back there again all afternoon, along with a stack full of books he was barely looking at.  
  
No one noticed that Lucy was missing, which was probably for the best anyway.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
The force of the 'landing' jarred her head and she saw stars. Wherever she was it was dark, and cold and clammy, and she had better not wait around here much longer because if everything went right four very angry men were going to be coming any minute.  
  
She waited for her eyes to adjust, realizing now just how useful 'lumos' could be in times like these. She was in a tunnel, a long tunnel with an arched ceiling and smooth walls… where was the Proto Gate? The she look in front of her to the left and right and saw a band of white limestone running up the wall, over the ceiling, and down again. Brilliant, she thought. They had built the gate right into the mountain, lord the energy basin alone….  
  
She shook her head, focus Lucy, scary people trying to hurt you. She had no idea of the length of the tunnel system, the last thing she wanted was to be chased and end up in a dead end. What she needed and didn't have was time, what to do…  
  
In her head she seemed to hear the memory of an old exercise her mentor had practiced with her since before she could remember. "Look around Lucy," he would say, "what do you see?"  
  
"I don't see anything, I see a maze that could become a death trap full of emptiness and rocks."  
  
Rocks. That was it. She couldn't collapse the walls, but there were boulders and stones littering the floor in either direction. In an instant she raised them and sent them to the opposite side of the gate from where she was standing, dropping them carefully in a strong pile that became a wall. One side done she backed away and took stones from the other end of the tunnel and began to pile them as well, between herself and the gate.  
  
While she was doing it she felt a tingling, the gate was channeling someone, they'd be here in another few seconds. The rock wall reached the ceiling, but she wasn't leaving anything to chance. Using one of Asriel's methods for casting Eastern spells without a wand she reached for the energy beneath the stone and used all of her skill to fuse the rocks to each other, the floor, and the ceiling. Now instead of a brittle pile, whomever came on the side of that masterpiece was going to be met with a granite retaining wall. And since she still held their wands in her hands, there wasn't much they were going to be able to do  
  
…. except apperate.  
  
Damn, she'd forgotten that. She didn't know if apparating required wands or not, but she was taking no chances.  
  
This was going to mean sticking around for a bit, but quickly and swiftly she built a strong and sturdy shield around the area she had physically enclosed. She tried to feed as much of the natural line energy to support it rather than letting it feed off herself, but it was very hard to do. After she was satisfied it would hold, she set off down the tunnel in the direction she had decided was best, that of rushing water.  
  
She emerged five minutes later, in a larger cavern with a higher ceiling, but still narrow, with a shallow river running through it and dissapeering around a bend.  
  
Lucy saw it and began to laugh. Carved and painted along the walls were images and an ancient writing. She was in the remains of the Hente Cave School, abandoned sometime around 100 AD for yet unexplained reasons, but more importantly, the river that linked tunnels and rooms throughout the complex grew in speed and strength for ten miles before emptying out in the Pacific Ocean. She was in Peru and not only that, was about a 10 days hike from Machu Picchu itself.  
  
Of course, she didn't have ten days, she didn't have two days. If she was going to get there she was going to have to build her own gate. But just being this close gave her hope. Now that she knew where she was, she also knew a shortcut out. Reading the markings above the entrance to the tunnel she had just exited, she guessed herself to be about six miles in from the coast. That meant that if she walked towards the darkness instead of following the river downstream, she should come the to main chamber after another two tunnels.  
  
She had to cross the river at that point to get to the right entrance, fortunately this far up the currant was not a problem, but the water was freezing cold. With the shields on the Death Eaters still using her for energy, she couldn't waste it in drying herself off. So, soaking, she entered the tunnel and sure enough, there was a tiny spot of light on the floor ahead. The distance was deceptive and proved to be much farther along than she had thought. But when she was there she looked up and to her satisfaction, light, however dim, shone down through a hole in the ceiling of the tunnel. She felt about and found the 'ladder' carved into the wall, and carefully made her way through the ceiling, emerging out of the floor of a large, round cavern with very high ceilings. Scholars were still not sure what this was for, but one of the oddities about it was now of profound importance. There was a narrow set of stairs built into the round wall. They spiraled up and around, and to reach the ceiling required circling the great chamber about twenty times. But it was well worth it.  
  
Lucy found the base of the stone stairs and, carefully and slowly, keeping her back to the wall, began to move along them and up, having to watch her step as a few were run down or half chipped off. There was a fair amount of hovering required to keep her balance without a hand rail. The slow climb took her the better part of half an hour, but when she was finished she was several stories above the floor she had emerged through, and in the wall on her left was a small door. It had no handle, Lucy had to use telekinesis to push it out, and the blinding sunlight that met her eyes made her lean against the wall and take a few moments. The main chamber had been lit by a few 'window' holes higher up, but full daylight was a bit of a shock.  
  
She finally stepped out and resealed the door. She had emerged on the side of a mountain, and the view was breathtaking. The Peaks of this part of the Andes towered above her, and she could turn to her left and see the ocean. But all around her were lush forests and towering peaks. For the most skillfully trained of all the Adepts in the Circle, it was a good hiding place. She sat down, her back resting against a moss covered tree and sighed with relief as she released her tie to the shield guarding the Death Eaters inside the mountain below. There was no way they could find her now.  
  
It was late afternoon, the sun would be setting soon. As wary as Lucy was of sleeping in the jungle, there was no way she was going back into the caverns. She'd just have to trust her reflexes to wake her up if she was about to be eaten. SHE was going to take a nap, she needed it.  
  
When she awoke it was dark, dark and noisy. She had never lived in a forest like this one, it was much nosier than the desert was at night. Rubbing her stiff neck, she felt dirty and sweaty, but well rested. Which was a good thing, because she was going to need all her energy for this.  
  
Trying to shake off jitters and pretend this was just another exercise, she turned around, and found two trees whose branches overlapped, not too tall, but big enough to have a steady hum of natural energy already flowing through them. She grounded herself, and reached for the energy lines, neat orderly and serene so close to a school, clean and cool, just like she had trained with. That was good. She took in the energy and redirected it towards the trees, it flowed up and over, meeting in the middle in a glowing arc of light. Now strengthen Lucy, no use having it collapse when you walk over the threshold. She wove more energy, braiding and weaving it, not to tight and rigid, enough room to pulse and expand naturally, letting the currant do as much work as herself.  
  
Then she closed her eyes and tried to remember in as precise detail as possible the gate room at Macho Picchu, it was the only 'entrance' accessible by gate, she'd been in it a hundred times, not to gate, it was hardly every used for that anymore, Diego and her used to… she gulped, distracted, and the gate wavered. She pushed the thought of what had happened out of her mind and using the Sight reached for her destination…  
  
After what seemed like hours but was only seconds, she felt it connect with a soft pop, and opening her eyes she saw through the gate an image of a small circular stone room with a brazier burning next to an open doorway.  
  
She sealed the connection with her own energy and lowered her hands. The gate was standing on its own.  
  
Gathering her courage and her strength, she took a deep breath, rubbed Diego's beads for good luck, and stepped across the threshold of her very first gate.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
The other side felt strangely noisy, that humming… oh, the web, that's what was different. She'd been so long in a school unconnected to the web she'd forgotten how it purred in your subconscious.  
  
She was feeling almost completely drained, but took the time to carefully let loose the ties that held the gate energies together, and with a gentle shove they began to flow back where they had come from. Of course, she had already severed the connection to her before she gated, so she watched rather sadly as her energy dissipated into the atmosphere, another drop in the roaring flow of energy that surrounded this place.  
  
She found the bench against the left hand wall, there for the express purpose of fostering exhausted travelers. Relieved to be off her feet, and moreover, to be safe for the first time in several hours, she dropped onto it in a heap. Then, slightly embarrassed to be forgetting her manners, gave the small crystal suspended over the fountain across the room a mental "nudge" with her name and a greeting. It was like ringing a doorbell, now someone would know she was here.  
  
Within moments a girl a year or two older than herself entered the room, a bit puzzled, and looked about. Her eyes widened when she saw Lucy, then she smiled apologetically.  
  
"Perdoname, so sorry, didn't mean to gape, but well, I thought you were a ghost." She gestured at Lucy's attire, and only then did she remember she was in the traditional Espiritu uniform. Although any of the higher advanced level schools would have white uniforms, each style was different, and Espiritu's was especially distinctive.  
  
"Oh," Lucy grinned, "Yes, I don't suppose you were expecting any of us now were you."  
  
She smiled, shaking her head. "Frankly, I didn't know there were any left. Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean-"  
  
Lucy held up a hand, "It's all right, really. But I do need to see someone, right now actually, it's rather urgent.  
  
"Oh, of course." The girl straightened up, trying to act according to her office. "If you would follow me please." It would have been an entirely valid impression if she hadn't winked as Lucy preceeded her out the door and whispered, "Name's Josephina, by the way, my friends call me Jose."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
"A Proto Gate? Are you sure?"  
  
Lucy nodded, a little too in awe of who she was facing to do much more until the shock wore off.  
  
"But it is closed?"  
  
Lucy nodded, "It's closed at Hogwarts, I'm certain. I had to leave the entrance under the mountain open or they wouldn't have been able to follow me. But these things do shut down if one end is closed, right?"  
  
She looked hopefully from her spot at Abraham, the same man who had been at her Masters trials, the one she had asked to be taken to first. When he heard her story she had been marched up to the High Circle seat itself to tell the elders. But somehow she trusted Abraham more than anyone, he had traveled enough no to let the security of Machu Picchu overwhelm his good judgement.  
  
He nodded. "If one sink is cut off, the rest will collapse too, but its not permanent."  
  
"I didn't feel like I could safely dismantle it, I mean part of its energy field supports Hogwarts, it would be an awful mess."  
  
"No one's criticizing you Lucy. But now we are faced with the responsibility of finding all the gates and permanently closing them. A temporary solution won't fix anything in my opinion Sophia."  
  
Sophia, one of the chief elders nodded. "Whatever will happen, it won't happen tonight. I think it best that the young Espiritu stay here for tonight, she needs to regain her strength."  
  
Lucy nodded, she was used to being talked about like she wasn't there around elders.  
  
**We'll talk tomorrow child. You have some decisions to make,**  
  
She looked up in surprise, and saw a pair of bright blue eyes fixed on her, a slight smile playing around the lips. She nodded and followed Abraham out.  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
She was sitting back in the gating room. During their visits, especially around the time Lucy was seven or eight, this was their favorite place. It was never used, but it had that nice fountain on the wall, and it was quiet and cool. They used to play in here for hours, pirates, cowboys, cops and robbers, they'd even set up a pretend wedding with some of the younger children of visiting Adepts, who couldn't say no. Lucy had dressed them up and sung Ave Maria, and Diego had been the minister. It had all gone fine until the bride refused to 'take this man,' and what's more, gave him a black eye.  
  
When they were older it had just been their place to talk, like the rooftops back home.  
  
……………………….  
  
"Lucy, what do you want to do when you grow up?"  
  
"I want to give tours of the Hoover Dam."  
  
"No, seriously."  
  
"I am serious, do you have any idea how much power that thing generates?"  
  
"Lucy…"  
  
She'd rolled over, they'd been lying on their backs with their feet resting on the rim of the fountain. She laid her head on her crossed arms against the cool stone of the floor and looked at him.  
  
"I dunno, I'm gonna be at Espiritu."  
  
"For your whole life?"  
  
"No, I mean, I want to go other places, but I just always figured I'd end up back there. I mean, I couldn't imagine a better place, could you?"  
  
He didn't answer. "I mean, that's where you'll be, but that's not what you'll be. What do you want to do."  
  
"Why the sudden interest in my career as a member of the Nevada Parks Service?"  
  
He rolled his eyes. "You are not working around the Hoover Dam. You'd blow it up."  
  
"I might not."  
  
"You wouldn't be able to resist the temptation."  
  
Lucy thought about that, "You're probably right. I guess I'll have to go to plan B."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It's weird."  
  
"Lucy, you are weird."  
  
"It's nowhere near as cool as being the next Empathy Adept and start a new branch of mindhealing…"  
  
"That's a pipe dream anyhow, spit it out chica."  
  
"I want to get my Trans-Sect Masters of Natural Energy Certification."  
  
"Never heard of it."  
  
"No one's tried in about 200 years."  
  
"Maybe there's a reason, what is it?"  
  
"It would mean a lot of time abroad, but I could always pop back home. I'd have to spend a couple years studying and or teaching in a higher level school from one of almost every major sect of the Circle."  
  
"Um, Lucy, that could take forever."  
  
"Not forever…"  
  
"You'd be really, really old."  
  
"Not that old. Profesor de La Vega's been giving me work for it ever since he mentioned it."  
  
"When was that?"  
  
"Um, that month we spent in New Guinea."  
  
"Lucy! That was a year ago! Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"I thought it sounded silly, strange."  
  
"Um, Luce, wanting to learn anything about the peculiarities of magic in Borneo IS strange. I mean, I know he wants you to be well rounded, but this…"  
  
Lucy sighed and blew her hair out of her face. "I knew it was weird."  
  
Diego turned to her and pulled her into a sitting position. "No, don't do that. Just, well, why do you want to? I thought you were the one who was going to stay here?"  
  
"Eventually. But, Diego, do you ever feel like more and more we're being told about the way it 'used to be.' Like we're all fading away or something? Don't you ever wonder why?"  
  
Diego shrugged, "And getting a mastership of international magics will help this…"  
  
"I just think we ought to learn from each other. I think a lot of us are so remote and isolated that we could vanish and no one would notice. We could try new things…"  
  
"Ha! I knew it, I knew you wanted to invent your own magic."  
  
"I didn't say that."  
  
"Years of asking the question "why? why? why?" and finally you're going to find out."  
  
"Well, yeah. Besides, I could write a book."  
  
"Better learn to read one first."  
  
She tried to hit him and missed.  
  
"I'm serious. You wanna travel? Better learn the languages, which reminds me, we better look over the Quechua, I have a sneaking suspicion they won't give us dinner tonight unless we converse, frequently."  
  
"Ok… Deigo?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"What do you wanna do?"  
  
He grinned devilishly. "Well, besides being considered the smartest man alive and a master of my craft, I figure I'll take on one or two munchkins, and we will of course follow you and yours around, and we'll travel the world like gypsies and vagrants, teaching them a little something of course, when ever we stop having fun long enough to remember to."  
  
She couldn't help but smile. He grinned back.  
  
"And mama keeps telling me I don't have enough vision."  
  
……..  
  
As she ran her hand along the smooth curve of fountain it seemed like yesterday.  
  
"Brooding?"  
  
She looked up to see Sophia in the doorway.  
  
"I guess, a little."  
  
Sophia gestured outside, "Care for a walk?"  
  
Lucy nodded and followed her outside.  
  
The scenery around Machu Picchu was breathtaking, she'd forgotten somehow. She was so lost in thought she didn't realize that Sophia was staring at her.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
Sophie covered her mouth and smiled, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it's just, well, you look so much like him."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Antolin."  
  
Lucy raised her eyebrow. "Dona Sophia, you know that… that we're not biologically related?"  
  
Sophia smiled, "Yes yes, of course, I remember the day he petitioned the Circle to be both your guardian and mentor. It was a big surprise, we assumed, so soon after Paulo… well anyway, no, on the outside you don't look at all alike, but with the Sight," She pointed to her head. "Did anyone tell you your auras are almost exactly the same color?"  
  
Lucy smiled, "Really?"  
  
The older woman smiled. "Si, oh there are slight differences, but reds are sort of unique anyway, not many people who stay red after training, they usually become blue or green, not you two. No, Antolin is a tinge deeper, yours is brighter. And, Antolin's sort of rolls like waves, your pops and crackles like flame. But, still, when a novice sees you two together one day, it might give them a bit of a surprise."  
  
Lucy paused, "So you still think he's alive?"  
  
The woman turned back, "Of course, don't you?"  
  
Lucy nodded. "It's just that, well, most people act like Diego and Rosa and Professor de La Vega are dead."  
  
Sophia nodded. "Sometimes its easier to move on and put it behind then to keep it so close to themselves. Whereas for people who are as close as you and Antolin, that is much harder to do than to keep up hope."  
  
"Sometimes keeping up hope seems impossible."  
  
Sophia patted her arm maternally. "You've done fine chica, really, much better than anyone expected. When Antolin felt like you would be safer over there, we all had our doubts."  
  
"He sent, he sent me to Hogwarts to protect me? He knew?"  
  
"Easy child. He had been having a terrible feeling, for almost a year really, that you were in danger, it's a parental instinct which more than one parent at the school demonstrated. So when we began to discuss your next year or so and the possibility of fostering at another school, he felt that you would be safest with Albus Dumbledore. He didn't know what was going to happen, only that if he ignored it something awful would happen and he would never forgive himself."  
  
Lucy was silent.  
  
"Besides, who would have found our old friend Asriel if you hadn't gone?"  
  
"Did he know about him?"  
  
"Not much more than anyone else, but I think he had a hunch you would look into it. Think of it as killing two birds with one stone. He knew Asriel had done important work there, and he knew you'd find out what it was eventually. He didn't know about the wand though, he contacted me right after you told him, quite shocked actually."  
  
Sophia paused and looked at the girl. Despite Antolin's feelings that she was better off where she was, she couldn't understand how that was better for her now. So alone and isolated, and still having the truth kept from her for various reasons, she ought to be at least in a school with others like herself. Well, it couldn't hurt to try.  
  
"Lucy, where were you headed before Antolin decided to send you to Hogwarts?"  
  
Lucy looked up a little taken off guard. "I, ummm, Egypt, I think. I mean, historically speaking they have the best library ever compiled, plus we spent a lot of summer trips there, so I'd be reasonably all right on my own. I'm not sure which school though…"  
  
"Valley of the Kings?"  
  
"I sort of wanted to study there and at Giza. How'd you know?"  
  
"You don't look like a kind of girl who would enjoy the crowded streets of Cairo."  
  
Lucy nodded. "Ugh, we spent almost all winter one year in Bombay. I nearly went mad, too many people, too close together."  
  
Sophia wrinkled her nose. "Not my favorite either, but Navin is a good man, he runs his school well."  
  
Lucy sighed and sat down, leaning back on her hands, letting the majesty of the Andes soak in.  
  
"If I were you, I don't know how I could ever leave."  
  
If ever there was a time to discuss… Sophia sat down a little more delicately on a bench just behind her.  
  
"You know, chica, you don't have to."  
  
"Don't have to what?"  
  
"Leave. The Circle agrees that you really aren't any more safe in one locale than another. And with Antolin indisposed at the moment, at the end of term your guardianship will transfer from Albus Dumbledore to the Circle. They intend to allow you to live wherever you choose, as long as you keep up your studies, of course."  
  
Lucy looked up at her in disbelief. For months, that was all she had wanted anyone to say. And now that they had…. now she had a decision to make.  
  
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**Teehee, this is me talking, don't be shocked. Um, just wanted to say I am thinking of changing the title to The Story That Would Not Die. Honestly I never meant for it to get so long, twenty nine chapters and counting is ridiculous, but, well, I can't help myself! It's pure escapism. Rest assured, it is coming to a close, soon, I promise. The problem now is I'm toying with, playing on, staring wistfully at the idea of going ahead and writing the next year (there's a giant hint at Lucy's decision if ever I gave one) so I have to include some stuff to keep that option open. Besides that, once I got her to Peru I just wanted to GO to Machu Picchu so badly I had to send her there. Oh, yes, anyone who doesn't know how beautiful the Andes are can look at some excellent pictures of the Mach Picchu ruins (they won't show the many subterranean levels of the school, but, oh well) here: http://encarta.msn.com/find/MediaMax.asp?pg=3&ti=761568234&idx=461545004, there's a really nice set of media for it, enjoy. Oh, well while I'm giving out links, anyone who never saw The Worst Witch and wants to know how the "Chadwick's School Song" (Really the Cackles Academy School Song) sounds, there's an mp3 file here: http://www.dreamwater.com/davinci5156/sound.html, hmm, I should go back and put that in the right chapter, ho hum. Thanks to those of you that review, even if you somehow manage to say 'I hate you' three times while you do it, it's a high point of my day!** 


	30. Chapter 30: The Girl from the Desert and...

Chapter Thirty: The Girl from the Desert and the Boys from New Jersey  
  
Lucy stopped in her tracks and peered suspiciously at the bushes on the side of the road. This was the third time she'd heard a noise coming from them and she was sick of pretending it wasn't there.  
  
"Well, are you coming out or aren't you?" She stood with her hands on her hips, trying not to think about the fact that she was addressing a shrubbery. She waited, tense, to see if anyone was going to emerge.  
  
Only to be greeted by a black snout, two black ears, and tail…. she's been harassed by a dog.  
  
She shook her head. "I really need a rest." She reached down to pat the animal.  
  
**Hello there boy **  
  
**Hello Yourself**  
  
"Agh!" She recoiled her hand and stepped back, glaring at the dog. "You! You know, stalking someone in that form isn't very polite."  
  
**It seemed a better plan than to walk around as myself and get sent back to prison. **  
  
She could have sworn the beast was laughing at her. She turned and continued up the road, towards the castle.  
  
Sirius followed her.  
  
**Where did you come from?**  
  
She glared over her shoulder at him. "From the woods outside Hogsmeade, far enough away not to be interfered with by the school's protections."  
  
**Long walk. **  
  
"Very observant of you."  
  
**Not much of a talker now, are you?**  
  
"Not to YOU, no, I'm not."  
  
**And what great atrocities have I committed lately?"  
  
Lucy stopped a moment, and turned to him, a peculiar look upon her face. "You are all alike, aren't you? You really don't think about anyone but yourselves!"  
  
**What?**  
  
"You mean you honestly don't care about all the people you've hurt?"  
  
**The people I've hurt? Now listen here little girl, my colleagues and I are risking our liveS to save people! Name me someone I've hurt!**  
  
Lucy's eyes were cold. "Do you want the complete list, or the abbreviated version?"  
  
He didn't answer.  
  
"We'll, I'll start with the short one and we'll see how we go then. Alison Horowitz, Maeve Campbell, Mary Simons, Shandrika Rajarathinam, Min Chou, Carrie Sanders, Theresa Romano, Meg Malone, Carla Evans-"  
  
**Who are these people?**  
  
"Don't interrupt. Kristina Vaneck, Katie Malloy, Adelaide Mitchell, Harriet Van Acker, Simone Bradshaw, Leslie Matthews, Dallas Kerrington, Bernadette O'Connoll, Katie Shannon, Scarlet Rosewood-"  
  
**What the-**  
  
Lucy had been getting louder, she was practically shouting now, ignoring Sirius's questions.  
  
"Victoria James, Kim Escobar, and Shandra Thomas!"  
  
She was almost shaking she was so angry. "They were the first form class at Chadwick's Academy, there are three of them I didn't name, because only three of them are left. For some reason between you and the gods you decided that whatever you were doing meant sacrificing the lives of 22, eight year old children!"  
  
She stared to walk away, fast, practically running up the hill away from that thing and towards the relative safety of the school. She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She turned in surprise to see Sirius Black the man, not the dog, staring down at her with the strangest expression imaginable.  
  
"We didn't know about Chadwick's, Lucy, I can promise you that. But I can't say that if we did, we would have acted any differently. Don't look at me like that. To act would have been to sign a death warrant for Severus Snape, and we need his information if we are ever going to be rid of the Dark Lord before he does something catastrophic."  
  
"Of course, you mean before he hurts any of YOUR families, before he attacks Hogwarts and you lose the best and brightest hopes for YOUR future. Don't you realize what he already HAS done? The Circle will NEVER help you now, and if I don't figure something out, I'LL be the last Espiritu, and everything that I love will fade away until there is nothing left of Western magic but a memory and a bedtime story. We're a rapidly decreasing part of the population, and I always thought we could help that by bringing schools together. At this rate we won't have any hope because there won't be any schools left! But I guess that doesn't really qualify as catastrophic for all of you now, does it?"  
  
They were almost to the castle now, a few more minutes and Lucy would be able to see Hagrid's hut. But Sirius wasn't letting her off that easily. He put a hand on either of her shoulders and spun her around to face him.  
  
"Listen. Voldemort is the reason two of my oldest and best friends are dead, he's the reason I lost Harry and almost lost my mind in that prison I was shut up in. You have to believe me when I say that no one wants this to stop more than I do."  
  
Lucy looked into his eyes, which were practically burning with emotion. She understood, understood that Sirius Black needed to believe he was doing everything right to keep on doing whatever it was he was doing. And it was hard enough to do, she was sure, without worrying about the hundreds of strangers who had slipped through the cracks of this operation. It was then that she fully realized that if she wanted protection for herself and her own, she was going to have to do it herself.  
  
She met his stare calmly and deftly removed his large hands from her shoulders. "I believe you Mr. Black. And I hope that whatever you are doing, that you do it quickly, because while your mission may be to kill Voldemort and prevent him from hurting any more people, mine is to make sure that when that finally happens, my people are still left."  
  
She turned again and made her way to the castle, shadowed the rest of the way by a large black dog.  
  
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She reached the wall directly below the common room windows and began to climb, clinging to window sills and oversized pieces of stone, and using a great deal of balance and hovering to manage it. When she finally reached the tower she made the inner latch turn and pushed the window open softly before climbing inside.  
  
She carefully shut the latch and turned around to face a scene that made her heart melt.  
  
Seamus was lying on a couch across the room, a blanket across his lap, books and scrolls everywhere, and from the plate of half eaten food next to him, had probably been there for quite some time. He was half flopped over, his head on his arm, which was rested on the arm of the sofa, as if he had just suddenly fallen over. It was quite possibly the most adorable thing she had ever seen.  
  
Part of her demanded that she wake him immediately and spill out everything that had happened since she had last seen him. And the other, more sensible part of her said that he probably hadn't been getting very much sleep and the best thing to do would be to get him to bed.  
  
But how to go about that exactly? Seamus was a tall young man and there was no way she could carry him… but he couldn't be any heavier than the cauldron she had thrown at Snape. With a smile of fond remembrance for that happy occasion, she sighed, gathered her energy, and lifted the still sleeping Seamus about three feet in the air. Carefully and deftly she maneuvered him up the stairs, pushed open the door to his dormitory, and set him down carefully on the only unoccupied bed in the room. Checking first to make sure no one was awake, she tiptoed inside long enough to take off his slippers and pull the coverlet over him before sneaking back out and closing the door.  
  
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She was awakened the next morning by Hermione, in a very un-prefect like manner, leaping onto her bed and dragging her to a sitting position, only to nearly suffocate her with a hug all before a very groggy Lucy could get a hold of where she was and who was attacking her.  
  
Fortunately, for the sake of sparing any explanations, Lavender and Parvati were not awake to see the spectacle, since they were being told Lucy's absence was routine Hermione's behavior might seem a bit odd. But Hermione kept trying to get Lucy alone all morning as they got ready, to fill her in on details, but Lucy was too tired to do anything but make herself presentable. It took her so long to do so that Hermione went on ahead and she was the last one to leave the common room.  
  
Well, almost the last one. Seamus was picking up books and quills left from last night when she came down, he took one look at her and dropped his books, vaulted over the sofa, picked her up and spun her around so hard she was dizzy when he put her down and had to lean up against him to stay upright. He didn't mind.  
  
"I knew you were back, I just knew that had to be you last night, why didn't you wake me up?"  
  
"You looked like you could use the sleep."  
  
"God, you have no idea, I was going crazy- wait, are you all right? What happened?" He held her out at arms distance to try and make out any possible injuries.  
  
"No no no, I'm fine, really. I guess I was just so tired…"  
  
"Where were you?"  
  
Lucy looked up at him and grinned, "Would you believe Peru?"  
  
"What? How'd you-"  
  
Lucy cut him off by placing a finger across his lips. "Shhhh, unless you want everyone else within five miles to hear about this."  
  
Seamus nodded, but didn't release his hold on her shoulders. "Well, what did you do? How did you get back?"  
  
Lucy sighed, "That is a very long story, and I am absolutely starving, I'll tell you later, all right?"  
  
Seamus sighed and nodded, and followed her out the portrait hole and down to breakfast.  
  
Judging from the lack of inquisitive looks as Lucy entered the Great Hall, no one had really noticed her brief sabbatical.  
  
No one, that is, except for Ron and Harry, whom Hermione had somehow forgotten to fill in on the good news. Luckily she saw their shocked faces and grabbed an arm from each of them to prevent them from jumping up and running over. The boys then both realized what she meant and settled down to compose themselves. They couldn't help from grinning though when Lucy and Seamus sat down opposite them.  
  
Lucy grinned back. "Could you please pass the eggs?"  
  
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Lucy was dragging herself back from an exhausting session of sixth year potions when she was met by Professor McGonagall in the hallway.  
  
"Oh, Montero, the headmaster said he wanted to see you as soon as you were finished with classes for the day, why don't you go along now?"  
  
Lucy nodded and headed towards Dumbledore's office as McGonagall steamed off down another corridor. When she arrived at the gargoyle, Sirius, in canine form, was lying at its feet.  
  
She looked at him and sighed. "You know, for someone who's not supposed to be here, you sure do hang around a lot."  
  
**And for someone who's not supposed to leave here, you sure do get out a lot.**  
  
Lucy decided not to respond. "Well, are you going to tell me the password or aren't you?"  
  
** sugar quills**  
  
"Now was that- sugar quills- so hard?" Lucy said archly as she and the dog/Sirius made their way up the staircase. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk when they entered.  
  
"Hello Lucy, why don't you take a seat. Sirius, if you'd care to change into something more comfortable, no one is likely to disturb us here."  
  
As Lucy took a chair in front of the large desk, a much more human Sirius took the chair next to it and Dumbledore resumed his seat facing them.  
  
"I'm glad to see that you are well, Lucy."  
  
Lucy tried to appear confidant but her apprehension could be heard in her voice as she feigned ignorance.  
  
"Why wouldn't I be, sir?"  
  
Dumbledore smiled. "Well, from what I understand gating can be a rather precarious business, especially when one is followed by certain, unwelcome guests?"  
  
Lucy look deflated, "So you know then sir?"  
  
"I told you long ago there was very little that went on in this castle of which I was not aware. However, it was Sirius that knew about your escapade. The night you went out Harry was woken by a… disturbance-"  
  
"His scar?"  
  
Dumbledore raised his eyebrow half an inch, so Harry had told her about that…. "Yes, his scar hurt very badly. It was when Hermione and Ron as well as the other boys were roused by his screams that Seamus noticed you were gone. Harry has been in the practice of informing Sirius and myself whenever his scar begins to…. bother him, and they now feared that you were walking into a trap and that Voldemort was nearby. He sent an owl to Sirius, which is how he knew. He didn't arrive here until the entire group had returned from the forest, and Harry explained that since there was really nothing to be done, they were keeping Lucy's absence a secret for as long as possible. Sirius kept that secret, as well as patrolled the forest and the grounds for any sign of you until you turned up yesterday. It was only then that he informed me of what had happened."  
  
Lucy stared at the very large man sitting on her right. "Why?"  
  
Dumbledore continued. "To inform me of a possible danger to Hogwarts. Hermione and Harry had described the portal-"  
  
"Gate."  
  
"Gate then, in the forest, and he thought I ought to know about it, although Hermione assured him that it was closed. Is it?"  
  
"Yes, Hermione did it perfectly, with this side closed there is no way someone could come through from Peru. And this summer the Circle will be sending a group of Adepts and Masters out here to permanently dismantle the gate structure and energy sink. They should be sending you word after the timetable is worked out, both ends need to be done synchronously or there could be an energy imbalance, which would be bad, very very bad."  
  
Dumbledore nodded. "I'll be watching for their letter then. Now, on to the next set of business, you're future here at Hogwarts."  
  
"I do intend to finish the rest of the term, sir, if that's what you mean."  
  
Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm speaking of next year, Lucy."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Kindly don't interrupt. Now I understand your Circle is very adamant that they will not sponsor you at a school such as ours, for various reasons, and I have no reason to think they have changed their minds, they haven't, have they?"  
  
"No sir."  
  
Dumbledore nodded. "Well, now we come to the point, do you want to return next year Lucy?'  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"The question is simple Lucy, do you WANT to come back, not can you or may you, but do you want to?"  
  
Lucy squirmed uncomfortably. "I never thought I'd say it, but I do. I mean, this whole place can be terribly infuriating, but at the same time I think that now more than ever I ought to learn all I can about this branch of magic. I really think that if we are going to survive we are going to have to adapt."  
  
Dumbledore nodded. "And do you think that your Circle would give you permission to attend? Not funding, but permission?"  
  
Lucy nodded, "Sophia, she's one of the Machu Picchu elders, told me the Council is giving me my choice of where I want to go, as long as I keep up my studies and fulfill whatever jobs the Masters' Guild assigns me. But without any aid from the Circle I can't, I can't afford the tuition and supplies on my own."  
  
Dumbledore nodded again, his eyes twinkling. "Do you think you would be willing to work for the tuition?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I have spoken to the ministry and this is not the first time that a student has run into financial difficulties. And now, as in the past, they are willing to take you on as a work study student. They will give you enough money for tuition and supplies in return for your services to the Ministry this summer and as the occasion arises."  
  
Lucy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you telling me that the Ministry is willing to sponsor a muggle born, American barbarian?"  
  
"Well, you would be working for them, but, yes."  
  
"What will I be doing?"  
  
"That is where I needed your assistance. They could, of course, give you a desk job, or put you as someone's assistant. But I thought that perhaps we might find a way to put your more, unique talents, to use. Do you have any ideas?"  
  
Lucy puzzled for a moment or two, then she remembered a conversation she had been having with Harry about Voldemort and his doings, right after she learned he and his followers had been behind the attacks. She looked up hopefully at the headmaster. "Well, there is one thing…"  
  
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Nothing was definite, Dumbledore still had to look into getting permission from the proper authorities for Lucy to work where she wanted, and so she chose not to tell anyone. Besides, she had said the Circle would let her go anywhere, but this was likely to throw them for a loop, and they were expecting her to work for THEM this summer, so the deal was by no means concrete.  
  
She returned to the common room and was practically attacked by Harry and Ron, who hadn't had a chance to talk to her about anything all day, and after two affectionate hugs she sat them down and gave them the short and vague version, they were satisfied and they all went down to dinner.  
  
After dinner she had Seamus to deal with. Seamus who would not be satisfied with an explanation that was either short or vague. The common room was empty by the time she finished telling him in a low voice exactly what had happened from the moment she left his sight to the moment she re- entered it.  
  
"You do realize that was a damn fool thing to do."  
  
"What else could we do? If I hadn't led them in there they would have probably killed Harry, the rest of you as well, and taken me somewhere to use whatever they could rip out of my head to kill the rest of the world, and I wasn't for that. Even if no one died, having your thoughts ripped out like they were planning to do… I could see it in their heads… that's pretty much the equivalent of mental rape. I would rather have died in that void than let them do that."  
  
She shivered at the thought and Seamus put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him.  
  
"Well they're never going to have a chance, you know that. You'll be safe here until the end of the year, and after that… well I'm sure that Circle will take good care of you…"  
  
His voice had broken a little when he mentioned how she wouldn't be around next year, but Lucy chose to redirect the conversation rather than deal with THAT kettle of fish.  
  
"Well, hopefully they'll just think I'm dead. After all, they did gate back to a sealed off tunnel, I don't think they know enough about me to realize I did that myself. I wonder how they found me in the first place…"  
  
She head the anger in Seamus' voice. "Well, most of the Death Eaters have kids here, anyone talking about a strange girl at school could have told their parents…"  
  
"So not all the Death Eaters went to Azkaban…"  
  
"No, too many of them are considered upstanding citizens…"  
  
"And some of them are prominent teachers…"  
  
Seamus looked at her warily. "You aren't still thinking about hurting Snape, are you?"  
  
"No, not right now anyways… but I don't think I'll ever forgive him for what he did."  
  
He pulled her a little closer and she rested her head on his shoulder. "No one's asking you too. Just, don't go blowing the lab up anymore, you'd hate to spend you last days here in detention."  
  
There it was again, that tightness in his voice. She refused to answer it, and simply replied, "I promise," before getting up and going to bed.  
  
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Exams had been terrible. Despite an end of the year project in sixth year potions as well as the fifth year exam, Lucy managed to turn out respectably in Snape's class. She managed to scrape together reasonable marks in both Charms and Divination, as well as Transfiguration. History of Magic was easy, since Lucy was particularly interested in History lately, Care of Magical Creatures wasn't much of a challenge since the class had killed the Swamp Fish that were supposed to be trained for the final exam the week before the test and Hagrid had been forced to make them care for flobberworms instead. Divination was largely a matter of creativity in any case, and she was considering dropping the class since she was sure if Chief Drummond were around he wouldn't want her exposed to anything that might derail his teachings, not that she was in much danger of learning anything in that class anyway.  
  
She was tired, but in a good way, and she was humming to herself as she, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati packed up their trunks the day after the last exam. Since the exams were charmed to automatically grade themselves once the professor took off the no cheating spell, marks could be determined automatically, and the passing seventh years had had their Graduation Ceremony the previous night. Lucy smiled at the lump on the bed that had arrived a few weeks before, which she had been working on with Thomas. She needed to remember to give that to the twins before she forgot.  
  
"Um, Lucy, do you want this?" Lavender was holding up Faustas's stand and the special shutters she had been given for Christmas.  
  
"Oh," Lucy faltered. "Um, the stand came from the school, so I suppose I ought to ask Hagrid or Filtch what to do with it. I'll take the shutters though."  
  
She placed them in her trunk, wrapped in a blanket, and then returned to rummaging under her bed to find her socks. After retrieving them she tossed them in and took a small deep blue velvet bag from where she had tossed it on the bed spread. Standing in the middle of her bed she closed the curtains, and the stars became visable. She reached up and plucked one from the air and put it in the bag. In response the rest of the stars followed, flowing into the bag in a funnel of light, until the air above her bed was dark, and the bag made a faint humming noise. She smiled and hopped onto the floor, knotting the bag and placing it in her trunk.  
  
"I guess that's everything, you guys ready?"  
  
Lavender was miles from getting her clothes folded properly, Parvati was in the same stitch, Hermione was having trouble getting all her books packed, again. The three scowled at Lucy and her one trunk.  
  
"It's not my fault I travel light! I'm gonna go give the twins their graduation present and I'll come back and help."  
  
She smiled to herself as she hopped down the stairs. The Weasley's were in the common room, not looking in the least but more mature for their graduated status, but nevertheless. She grinned and dropped down on the couch next to them.  
  
"Do you feel any different?"  
  
Fred and George looked at each other and shrugged, "Nope, not really, profoundly joyful never to have to see Snape again, but not different."  
  
Fred waggled his eyebrow. "Do we LOOK different?"  
  
Lucy tried to keep a straight face. "Oh yes, completely, SERIOUS, RESPONSIBLE, even,"  
  
"Now don't be cruel Miss Montero."  
  
"Ugh, you know you sound like Snape when you say 'Miss Montero' like that?'  
  
"Stop it!"  
  
She giggled and held out her hand, in it lay the package, wrapped in the last of her parchment and tied with a ribbon.  
  
George looked from her to the package and back to her. "What is that?"  
  
"Your graduation present. Go ahead, open it."  
  
Fred needed no further tempting, he tapped the package with his wand, and the ribbon untied itself and the paper fell open to reveal two small chocolate candies, that looked like peanut butter cups, in blue foil.  
  
"Lucy, you don't seriously think we are going to eat this do you? I mean you haven't been walking about blind the past year…."  
  
Lucy held up her hands. "Fine, fine, fine, let someone else have all the fun, but I went to a lot of trouble in making those Fred Weasley, and they better be eaten by someone today!"  
  
Fred nodded, wrapped them back in the paper, and George placed them in his pocket. "Deal. How will we know if they work?"  
  
Lucy grinned, believe me, you'll know."  
  
She trotted back up stairs smiling to herself and was immediately enlisted to sit on top of Lavender's trunk so she could latch it, it was apparently stuffed beyond the capacity of Lavender's standard packing charm, and Hermione refused to help her on principle.  
  
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It was soon after that when Professor McGonagall poked her head in, raising an eyebrow and a knowing smile at the mess the girls had made, to tell the girls they had half an hour to get their trunks down to the carriages, and that the headmaster needed to see Lucy. Lucy used her wand to lighten her trunk, then pocketed it and without the wand raised the trunk off the floor and mentally pulled it along behind her.  
  
The head of Gryffindor house gave her a measured glance, "Interesting, Montero, very interesting."  
  
"I think you could say I'm learning to fit in a little better."  
  
McGonagall eyed her white robes, "Perhaps."  
  
Lucy didn't have to read her mind to guess what she was thinking. "I'm gonna work on that this summer. The Circle agrees I should at least dress a little less conspicuously if…." She looked up for an answer.  
  
"I don't know anything, Lucy, you will just have to wait."  
  
McGonagall gave the password at the gargoyle and left Lucy to find her way up.  
  
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Lucy flew down the main stairs, her trunk gliding behind her, she wanted to find Seamus, she wanted to find Hermione, anyone, at this point she would have told Draco Malfoy just to have it out.  
  
Students were already clambering into carriages. A quick glance around saw Hermione, Ron, and Harry waiting for an empty carriage to come around. She ran over and grabbed the girl by the arm, dragging her off five feet and for some reason, decided to whisper the good news in her ear.  
  
She was met with a shriek.  
  
"What! How! Lucy WHAT did you DO! I mean, its great, that's tremendous, but, ohhh come here!" Hermione tackled her in a warm hug and dragged her back to the boys.  
  
"What was that all about?"  
  
Hermione didn't let Lucy open her mouth. "Lucy's coming back next year."  
  
Ron raised his eyebrow, "Well there goes the neighborhood."  
  
Hermione elbowed him in the ribs and he grinned, "Kidding, America, kidding."  
  
Harry was grinning. "How did you manage it? I thought your school…."  
  
"Well, that's the thing, I'm working for the Ministry and in return they are gonna pay for tuition and supplies."  
  
"Really? I didn't know they did that?"  
  
"They've done it before, apparently, I guess a lot of people just didn't want to advertise being a charity case."  
  
Hermione snorted. "You're not a charity case, you're working aren't you? And come to think of it, what are you doing?"  
  
Lucy grinned, "Well, actually, Harry was the one who gave me-"  
  
She was cut off by Dumbledore coming up to them, with a rather bemused looking Neville at his elbow.  
  
"I trust you four will be having a good summer?" He had a twinkle in his eye as he regarded Lucy.  
  
They all nodded and agreed. Neville, looking happy, but nervous, came around to Lucy's side from Dumbledore.  
  
"Hey, my stuff's already in that carriage over there with Dean, you want to just pile it on top, that way, when we get to the station it'll-"  
  
Lucy grinned, "Sounds good." She sent her trunk over towards a nearby carriage and landed it on top of the rest of the luggage in the back. Dean was there, balancing on the side and magically 'locking' the trunks in place. Her gave her a wave and tapped his wand on her trunk.  
  
"Thanks Dean!" She waved back, and looked around.  
  
"Harry, Ron, have you seen Seamus?"  
  
The boys looked around, Ron shrugged, "Nope, not since breakfast. He kinda packed in a rush and got out."  
  
Harry shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably.  
  
"Uh, Lucy, he said something about just wanting to get out… I don't think he's planning to say goodbye."  
  
"What?"  
  
"He's not really good with goodbyes and, well, I think he just figured it would be easier for both of you if he just sort of stayed out of sight."  
  
"But he doesn't know I'm coming back now! I have to tell-"  
  
Dean interrupted them, shouting from the carriage. "You wanna miss the train Neville! Lucy, you too, come on, we're ready to go!" He and Toni Turner, a fifth year Ravenclaw with long black braids, beckoned from their seats inside the coach.  
  
Lucy sighed, "Well, listen, if you see him, tell him to find me on the train, ok? I have to talk to Neville about some stuff and, well, if worse comes to worse just tell him yourselves ok?"  
  
She never heard their responses, as she was dragged off by Neville to the coach.  
  
"We'd better get going too," Hermione clucked. She and Ron bid goodbye to Dumbledore and took all the trunks towards the nearest empty coach and began piling them on.  
  
Harry looked up at the headmaster. "Professor Dumbledore?"  
  
The headmaster didn't look down at him, his gaze was on the carriage that was just starting to move. "Yes, Harry?"  
  
"What is Lucy doing this summer?"  
  
Dumbledore smiled and raised his eyebrows. "Well, I would have thought you would guess it, Harry. After all, you did give her the idea in the first place."  
  
"She was saying something like that, but I am confused, what does Neville need her for?"  
  
Dumbledore continued to watch the coach. "Well, you know most of Lucy's magical talents are more concentrated on the mind, and not on the physical world. Besides telepathy and empathy there is apparently a world of work that can be done by delving into the human mind. Lucy's good friend, Rosa Alvarez, the mother of her best friend, was, is, a very talented mind healer, and she trained both her son and her surrogate daughter in the art."  
  
Harry shook his head, "I'm still confused, Neville may be odd but…"  
  
Dumbledore chuckled and shook his head. He had the strangest look of pride and admiration on his face.  
  
"I should think it was more obvious than that, Harry. You were the one who told her what happened, and now Lucy has chosen to spend the first part of her summer trying to heal Neville Longbottom's parents."  
  
Harry followed Dumbledore's gaze to where the carriage with Lucy, Neville, Toni and Dean, was just rounding the corner and turning out of sight.  
  
"Do you think she can do it?" There was awe in his voice.  
  
"I can't say. She's determined to try, anyway. She wanted to talk to Neville straight away before he set his hopes too high, she's never done this before. But I learned long ago never to underestimate people like Lucy, it should be an interesting summer."  
  
"Harry, come on!" Ron yelled out of the window of the couch.  
  
"Have a good summer headmaster."  
  
"And the same to you, Harry, I'll see you next year."  
  
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Lucy couldn't find Seamus anywhere on the coach. She HAD to explain everything to Neville first, as well as get a little background information from him. But since his grandmother was going to take her to St. Mungo's herself, she figured she could spare some time now to look for him.  
  
She didn't find him, but she did find Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a sea of chocolate frog wrappers.  
  
"Watch it!" Ron yelled as she opened the compartment door. A small brown speck launched itself at her and landed on her shoulder. She grabbed it and cheerfully bit the head off.  
  
"Have you guys seen Seamus?"  
  
Hermione shook her head. "Sorry Lucy, I went around to check but its like he's in hiding or something."  
  
Lucy sighed, "Well, listen, will you find him when we get to the station and tell him? I'm gonna have to go meet Neville's grandmother and fill her in on the details and stuff."  
  
Hermione nodded. "I don't know how, but I'll find him, I promise."  
  
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&  
  
When the train finally reached the station Lucy followed Neville out and helped him with his trunk. While he kept watch for his grandmother, she hurried over to Hermione to say goodbye.  
  
"If you're staying somewhere with a telephone, call me. The good thing about being muggle born is the ability to use technology… properly." She gave Ron a look as she handed Lucy a scrap of paper with her phone number written on it.  
  
Ron just shook his head in disgust.  
  
Lucy grinned, "I'm working on enchanting a CD player, or at least a record player, we'll see how it goes. You may rue those words next year." She gave Hermione a big hug, then turned and gave Harry one as well. "Thanks."  
  
He looked surprised, but hugged her back. "It was a pleasure."  
  
When she pulled away from Harry, she turned to Ron, took a breath, and held out her hand.  
  
Ron looked at it solemnly and shook it, then, without releasing her, broke into a grin and pulled her into a hug.  
  
"You're all right, Montero."  
  
Lucy grinned, "Likewise."  
  
"Lucy!" Neville was waving from further down the platform, where a gray haired woman with a round face was smiling at her.  
  
"I'd better go, have a good vaca- err, have a good holiday."  
  
Ron raised his eyebrow, "She learns."  
  
Lucy stuck out her tongue and turned to make her way towards the Longbottoms. She had not moved more than eight steps when suddenly a noise broke out of nowhere.  
  
  
  
BORN DOWN IN A DEAD MAN'S TOWN,  
  
THE FIRST KICK I TOOK WAS WHEN I HIT THE GROUND,  
  
END UP LIKE A DOG THAT'S BEEN BEAT TOO MUCH,  
  
TILL YOU SPEND HALF YOUR LIFE JUST TO COVER IT UP.  
  
She turned around in a flash to see who it was, only to nearly die of laughter at the sight of Crabbe and Goyle, standing next to a very offened Draco Malfoy. The boys were completely flabbergasted, but whenever they opened their mouths, the only sound that came out was the voice of Bruce Springsteen, backed up by the entire E Street band. Not only that, but once they opened their mouths they couldn't stop, they just continued singing, with looks of absolute horror on their faces.  
  
BORN, IN THE USA, I WAS, BORN IN THE USA, I WAS BORN IN THE USA, BORN IN THE USA.  
  
As the boys continued to be tortured, Lucy furtively glanced around and saw the Weasley twins staring in rapt fascination a few yards away, with Lee Jordan practically having a seizure next to them from laughing so hard. She cupped her hands and yelled,  
  
"You gave them to THEM?"  
  
Fred and George teetered over, not wanting to tear their eyes away.  
  
"We dropped it in their Honeydukes bags before the train left, knowing they'd eat anything, kept the compartment door open the whole ride but we didn't hear anything, didn't think they worked."  
  
"I guess they saved the best for last."  
  
"Lucy Montero, what did you do?"  
  
Lucy grinned as she, as well as everyone else on the platform, stared at the unwilling performers.  
  
"I was working on it. I didn't have any money, and any I gave you would just go to the joke shop so…. where's the wrapper?"  
  
George pulled the paper out of his pocket, Lucy tapped it with her wand, and writing appeared.  
  
"I forgot to do that. There is the recipe for both the potion and the candy, as well as the spell Thomas and I worked out. We called them Compelling Caterwauls, but you may name them whatever you like, its yours, to sell in the shop."  
  
Fred and George stared at her in silence for a full ten seconds before crushing her in a double sided hug.  
  
"Gosh, thanks Lucy. You didn't have to go to all that trouble you know."  
  
Lucy shook her head. "On the long list of things I had to do this year, this was one of the more enjoyable. Besides, you are the only two people who were never afraid of me, it meant a lot. Now, the secret's in the toffee, its what makes it all happen. As soon as the last of it is off the teeth, they stop singing. It is VERY strong toffee though. Oh, and you can change the song, its in the spell. I just happen to be partial to Bruce Springsteen."  
  
"And the song choice was a nice touch."  
  
Lucy grinned, "I thought so." She stood on tiptoe and gave them each a kiss on the cheek. "Send me a box whenever you get it all worked out, I can think of a few people…"  
  
They gave her another hug and let her go, as she approached the Longbottoms and motioned for them to go on ahead through the barrier, thank goodness Hermione had explained about that, she heard Ron's voice from somewhere behind her.  
  
"Oh THANKS Lucy! Do you have any idea of what my summer is likely to be like now?"  
  
She turned and pointed to her ears and the singing boys, "I can't HEAR you! Someone is singing!" She threw up her hands in a shrug and laughed as she stepped through the barrier.  
  
On the other side she put her ear to the wall and grinned while she watched ordinary muggle London dwellers perking up their ears in confusion as throughout the platform there could be heard,  
  
BORN IN THE USA! I WAS, BORN IN THE USA! BORN IN THE USA! I'M A COOL ROCKIN DADDY IN THE USA, NOW… BORN IN THE USA! BORN IN THE USA!….  
  
  
  
**** I finally ended it! But wait, it may never end. I had to end it here but there were so many other things I wanted to put in. So, if you are one of the darling, beautiful people who actually leave me reviews, and even if you are not, tell me what you think about a sequel. Well, actually, I think I would write the summer interlude, and then the sequel, and I promise the interlude to be short, really I do. I can't believe this thing got this long, from the scene where Hermione goes home for Christmas to the end alone was 135 pages, I wrote a novella, ahhh! Um, and if, say, I don't know how popular The Boss is in Europe, but if you haven't heard Born in the USA, I couldn't find a whole clip, or I'm lazy, but you can hear at least a clip of the second verse and the chorus at CDNow.com, http://www.cdnow.com/switch/from=sr- 3696931/target=buyweb_purchase/itemid=317554 and it is just too funny to think of Crabbe and Goyle singing this, or of it being piped all throughout King's Cross Station. Yeah for American barbarians! **** 


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